Luna series
by Sambrea
Summary: Here's my Luna series all in one place. Crosses over with my other series, The Long and Winding Road. Umm, read part 7 on to see how the series ends. I still have two to four parts to go here though!
1. If Wishes were Horses part 1

Standard disclaimers: Paramount owns it all. 

PG 

If Wishes were Horses 

By Sambrea 

"Is there anyway to keep going at all?" 

"I'm afraid not, Captain. A lot of Voyager's systems are failing." said B'Elanna Torres. 

"Astrometics has already found a suitable planet nearby," Seven of Nine said. 

Kathryn Janeway, Captain of the USS Starship Voyager, sighed. "All right people. I guess this is   
going to be the end of the line for Voyager," she turned to Tom Paris. "Mr. Paris, set a course for   
that planet, fastest possible speed available. Everyone else, tell your people. I'll be in my ready   
room. Dismissed." 

Everybody left the room rather quickly except Chakotay. 

"Yes Commander?" 

"Are you all right?" 

"It's hard to have your dreams ripped out from under you. Now it seems we'll never get home." 

"At least we found a suitable planet in time. Would you rather die in space?" 

"No I guess not. But still, I'd much rather be in space than stuck on some unknown planet." 

"I think that's true of the whole crew, both Maquis and Starfleet." 

Kathryn nodded. "Yeah, I guess so. Thank you." 

Chakotay smiled. "Just doing my job. Looking after the captain and crew." 

Kathryn smiled and stood up. "Your doing a good job." 

Chapter 1 

"A lot of things are savagable, luckily, so we won't be completely on our own," B'Elanna said a   
couple days later at the daily briefing. 

"Like what?" Asked Kathryn. 

"The shuttlecraft, the Doctor, most of sickbay, part of the computer, part of the communications   
systems, and the replicators." 

"That's quite a lot of stuff. What about shelter?" 

"I suggest we take apart part of Voyager. If we're not using her, why keep her in one piece?" 

Janeway nodded a bit reluctantly. "All right, let's get everything ready to land tomorrow. Dismissed." 

Chapter 2 

"Approaching the planet, Captain," Tom Paris said. 

"Take us in, Mr. Paris," Kathryn pressed the button that broadcasted her shipwide and took a deep   
breath. "All hands, this is the Captain. We have reached the planet and are starting the descent into   
the atmosphere. It has been an honor serving you and I hope you all find happiness in our new life.   
Janeway out." 

"Captain, would you like to go on one last tour of the ship?" 

"Of course, commander." Kathryn got up from her chair. "Tuvok, you have the bridge," she led the   
way to the turbolift. The doors opened in front of them, and Kathryn said: " 

After a minute Chakotay turned to Kathryn. "I was wondering if you would reconsider what I   
mentioned on New Earth." 

Kathryn sighed and turned to face him. "I had a feeling that was going to come up. It might have a   
chance now. I know that I do have feelings for you that I would like to act on that I couldn't before   
because of Voyager, but maybe now it will have a chance." 

Chakotay took Kathryn in his arms and gave her a long kiss. 

"Ahem." 

They both opened their eyes and found Tom and B'Elanna staring at them, about as embarrassed as   
they were. 

"Sorry Captain, Commander. We, uhh, didn't know we were interrupting anything." 

"We didn't intend for anyone to see us. Please don't tell anyone about what you saw." 

"Umm, I'm not sure if your relationship will stay a secret if you keep kissing in the turbolift," Tom said   
with a large grin. 

Kathryn chuckled. "Unfortunately, we won't be able to do THAT much longer." 

They all grew silent after that, nobody wanting to break the silence, each lost in their on thoughts. 

Chapter 3 

A month after they landed on "Luna", as it had been affectionately nicknamed, the crew had paired   
off, all except Tuvok, of course who didn't think it necessary. 

Kathryn had already performed quite a few weddings, including Harry and Seven's, and B'Elanna   
and Tom's, among the most mentionable. 

Right now they were getting ready for her and Chakotay's wedding, which was going to be the next   
day. 

Their relationship had come to the point where they both felt ready. 

Many of the former crew gave at least part of their hard saved replicator rations for the ceremony. 

Some gave a few for every wedding, but quite a few felt this was important enough to sacrifice a   
few. 

Neelix had done wonders with a nearby clearing near the village that had sprung up. 

There was an arch covered with a kind of white flower that looked like a lily, that seemed to flourish   
everywhere. There were many cultivated beds of flowers around the clearing that someone who had   
found a love in gardening had cultivated. 

Since she was still considered the leader she did most of the weddings, but since she couldn't do her   
own, Tuvok was to act the part of minister this time. 

She was going to wear a white gown with a long train. Chakotay was going to wear one of the   
outfits he had started wearing on New Earth. He wore those outfits more and more now that they   
had settled on a planet, and that she didn't require Starfleet uniforms anymore. 

The whole colony had taken on a comfortable air. No one called Kathryn Captain anymore, as she   
had insisted on everyone calling her Kathryn the moment she had left the ship. 

"Kathryn, are you ready?" asked B'Elanna, who was going to be her bridesmaid. 

Kathryn smiled. "Of course, lead the way." 

A few minutes later they reached the clearing. Chakotay walked toward them, smiling, and kissed   
Kathryn on the cheek. 

"Beautiful, isn't it." 

Designers had done a wonderful job with the clearing. Flowers were everywhere, and there were all   
different shapes, sizes, and colors. 

"It's gorgeous." 

They walked up the aisle hand in hand to where everyone else was waiting. 

Chakotay started speaking. "We decided that instead of having just one of either of our ceremonies,   
to combine the two." 

"There will still be the procession, but I will not be led by anyone. We asked Naomi Wildman to be   
our flowergirl, which she agreed to. Tuvok will be acting the minister. The rest of you know what   
positions you are but I'll go over them so everyone else knows. B'Elanna and Seven are my   
bridesmaids, and Tom and Harry are Chakotay's best men. 

"You know the tradition of the bride and groom being apart the night before the wedding," Tom said   
with a grin. 

Don't tell me your going to enforce it," Kathryn complained but she was also grinning. 

"Don't worry. It's all set up. You'll stay with us, and Chakotay will stay with the Kim's." 

Kathryn gave Chakotay a quick peck then they went their separate ways for the night.   



	2. If Wishes were Horses part 2

Chapter 4 

It had been a long night for Kathryn. She hadn't slept well, and the noises coming from the bedroom   
hadn't helped her sleep either. 

When she looked at her chronometer and saw that it was five am she gave up on trying to sleep. 

She heard a door open behind her, and turned around. 

"I thought you probably couldn't sleep. I certainly couldn't." 

"You couldn't sleep the night before your wedding either?" 

"Neither of us could. We talked about it the next day." 

They sat there and talked for the next two hours, until it was time to start getting ready. 

++++++++++ 

"Are you ready, Kathryn?" 

Kathryn looked at B'Elanna and took a deep breath. They were standing at the edge of the clearing,   
waiting for the procession to start. "About as ready as I'm going to be." 

As the procession started down the aisle, Kathryn hung back, waiting her turn. As the music started,   
and she started walking, she looked around. 

All the bridesmaids were dressed in light blue, which matched the bouquets each one was carrying,   
plus the flowers Naomi was carrying. Kathryn was carrying a bouquet of the white lilies plus some of   
the light blue flowers the bridesmaids her carrying. 

She walked farther up the aisle , and looked at Chakotay's side of the aisle. 

Chakotay was smiling. Tom and Harry were dressed in suits with light blue cummerbunds. 

As she reached the arch, she locked eyes with Chakotay and smiled. 

"We gather on this day to join this couple, Kathryn and Chakotay in blessed union," Tuvok began.   
"If you have so prepared, Kathryn, please declare your love with your own words." 

"We have been through so much together. The unlikely joining of our two ships, getting stranded on   
New Earth together, seeing our crew pair up around us, but holding back on our personal feelings   
for one another, finding Voyager falling apart around us, but feeling helpless to do anything, landing   
on Luna, and finally giving in to personal feeling. Through all of it you have stood by my side, never   
questioning my authority, and always being a friend when I needed one. I can't think of another way   
to say it, Chakotay. I love you with all my heart." 

"Your turn, Chakotay." 

"I spoke to my spirit guide last night. She said I was doing the right thing. I didn't need my spirit   
guide to know that. Since New Earth I've known that there has been something between us. Since   
then, I've patiently waited for you to come to terms with your feelings. 

"When I first found out about Luna and that we were going to settle here I knew that this would be   
my chance to ask you to rethink New Earth and what it meant to our relationship. I'm glad we have   
each other." 

"If no on has any objections, I now pronounce you happily married. You may now kiss each other."   
Chakotay immediately took Kathryn in his arms and gave her a long, drawn out kiss. 

They only finally pulled away for breath. The cheering started immediately afterward. Chakotay and   
Kathryn were swamped by well-wishers and carried by the crowd to a nearby meadow where a   
enormous feast was set up. Someone had replicated a large sound system and had set it off to the   
side. There was a large open area in the middle of the field for dancing. In another area a long table   
was set up with many Alpha Quadrant foods. At one end was a small replicator unit for drinks that   
had the rations that weren't already used programmed in. 

Kathryn and Chakotay were seated at the front table along with Harry, Tom, Seven, and B'Elanna.   
The table was set up so that you couldn't miss anything going on. 

After everyone had sat down, someone reached over and started the music. 

As the evening progressed, dinner was served, and later that the dancing started. Kathryn and   
Chakotay had the first dance, a 20th century earth song called "Something There." 

There's something sweet, 

And almost kind. 

But he was mean, 

And he was coarse, 

And unrefined. 

But now he's dear, 

And so unsure. 

I wonder why I didn't see it there before. 

She glanced this way. 

I thought I saw. 

And when we touched she didn't shudder at my paw. 

No it can't be. 

I'll just ignore. 

But then she's never looked at me that way before. 

New, 

And a bit alarming. 

Who'd have ever thought that this could be? 

True 

That he's no Prince Charming, 

But there's something in him that I simply didn't see. 

Well, who'd have thought? 

Well, bless my soul. 

Well, who'd have known? 

Well, who indeed? 

And who'd have guessed they'd come together on their own? 

It's so peculiar. 

Wait and see 

A few days more. 

There may be something there that wasn't there before 

++++++++++ 

As the evening wound down, people started leaving and congratulating Kathryn and Chakotay on a   
wonderful wedding. 

Eventually all that were left were Kathryn, Chakotay, Tom B'Elanna, Harry and Seven. 

"When are you leaving?" Tom asked, speaking of the honeymoon that was set . 

Tomorrow morning, early," Kathryn said sleepily. 

"The Phoenix is ready to go. Don't be afraid to call if you run into trouble," said B'Elanna. "Have a   
great time, and once again, congratulations." 

"Good night, everyone. We should get to bed if we want to leave early tomorrow." 

"Have a great trip. We won't expect to hear from you for a week." 

"We'll sleep in the shuttlecraft tonight so we won't bother anyone. Good night." 

As the darkness swallowed the pair, Tom decided to take a chance. "Do they think we're actually   
going to believe they're just going to sleep tonight?" 

"I heard that Mr. Paris. Go to bed." 

That got a few snickers, but everyone did exactly that. 

Chapter 5 

The next morning there was a small crowd gathered around the USS Phoenix to watch the dawn   
departure. 

The flight plan was to travel north along a nearby river to find it's source, and check out any wildlife   
that might live along it. 

Kathryn and Chakotay hadn't slept much during the night, being too pumped, and doing other things   
than just sleeping. 

"We're ready to lift off, Tom," Kathryn said calmly into the radio. 

"All right. Have fun you two. Don't forget that this is also your honeymoon." 

"Thanks. See you in a week." 

They lifted off, waving to the crowd below. 

"That was a nice sendoff." 

Chakotay just nodded, too engulfed in piloting to look. 

"The river's below us now." 

Kathryn looked down and saw a clear blue river that was about ten feet wide. It was surrounded by   
a lot of bushes and trees. Many of those bushes were flowering. She made a note to herself to pick   
some of the plants to take back to the colony. 

"Beautiful," she whispered, not wanting the moment to end. 

"I'm setting down on the riverbank, then we'll be able to have a better look." 

As soon as the Phoenix touched the ground Kathryn was out of her seat and walking quickly to the   
back entrance, eager to go outside. 

As the door opened, Kathryn wasn't sure what to expect. 

No one had done much exploring in the area around the river yet. They were the first pair but it was   
to be expected that more couples would want to do some exploring also. 

As the back door opened, Chakotay joined her, putting his arms around her. They looked around   
the clearing and watched silently as a small herd of animals that were a cross between a horse, a   
buffalo, and an ass. 

The herd drank from the river, watching the couple suspiciously, but not necessarily distrustfully. 

A few days after they got back to the colony, Kathryn found out she was pregnant. She wasn't the   
only one, either. B'Elanna and Seven were also pregnant, among a few other women. 

When Chakotay and Kathryn made the report about the horses, they found that there were a couple   
people interested in them, among them Tom Paris. There were already some people that were   
interested in farming one of the other continents. After about a month, when they had captured some   
of the creatures, the group moved onto the continent that was also being used for farming. 

Chakotay and a couple of other people already knew a few things about raising and breeding   
horses, so they were teaching the less experienced people, like Tom how to do it. 

Kathryn and B'Elanna spent a lot of time together talking and riding along some of the natural trails   
that they had found. 

One day, when Kathryn was about months pregnant, she and B'Elanna were out riding when   
Kathryn's horse spooked and threw her. 

B'Elanna immediately trotter her horse over to where Kathryn was laying and jumped down (or at   
least as close to jumping down as she could). "Are you all right?" she asked worriedly. 

"I'm not sure. I'm hurting all over right now." 

"Can you stand up?" 

Kathryn nodded and stood up with B'Elanna's help. 

"Let's go home. We may need to take you to see the Doctor." 

++++++++++ 

Chakotay was surprised to see Kathryn's horse come back without a rider. Tom noticed it too, just   
before Chakotay jumped on his horse and galloped off in the direction the horse had come from. 

+++++++++++ 

Kathryn was feeling a lot worse when Chakotay reached them. They were stopping every few   
minutes so that Kathryn could rest, and weren't get much of anywhere. 

Chakotay almost galloped past them, but at the last second pulled up next to them. 

"What happened?" he asked, concerned. 

"Her horse spooked and bucked her off," B'Elanna answered. 

Chakotay jumped off his horse next to Kathryn, and put a hand on a shoulder. "Are you all right?" 

Kathryn shook her head. "I'm not feeling very good," she said quietly. 

Chakotay turned to B'Elanna. "Go tell Tom to contact main land. We may need the Doctor to come   
out." 

B'Elanna quickly nodded, and left, already being on her horse. 

Chakotay motioned to his horse. "Do you want to ride the rest of the way? It isn't far, and we'll   
make better time." 

Kathryn nodded, and he helped her up. 

It took ten minutes to get back to the house, since they went very slow. 

Tom and B'Elanna were waiting for them. "The Doctor's on his way," Tom said. 

++++++++++ 

20 minutes later, a shuttlecraft landed and the Doctor walked out. 

It only took him a few minutes to decide to take her back to his clinic on the mainland. 

"She's not doing well," the Doctor told Chakotay and Tom. "She's bleeding internally, and we might   
have to deliver the baby. I want to take her back to the mainland so I can give her the treatment she   
needs." 

Chakotay nodded. "Can I come with?" 

"Of course." 

Chapter 7 

The shuttlecraft arrived back at the colony within the next hour. 

The Doctor took her directly into surgery. As Chakotay waited, word of what happened spread   
through the colony like wildfire. Many former crew members sat with Chakotay: Tuvok, Neelix,   
Tom, B'Elanna, Seven and Harry just to name a few. 

Three hours later, the doctor came out of surgery. 

"We were able to save both mother and daughter are all right, though we had to deliver her early." 

"Can I see them?" 

The Doctor nodded and led the way. 

Kathryn was laying on the bed, unconscious. Next to the bed was his daughter in a bassinet. 

"Do you have a name picked out?" 

Chakotay nodded. "Phoebe Kes." 

The Doctor wrote that down on a padd, and nodded to Chakotay. "Good choice. I like it. I'm sure   
that Neelix will be honored." 

++++++++++ 

Chakotay stayed by Kathryn's side the whole night, and was there when she woke up the next   
morning. 

Chakotay quickly explained to Kathryn what had happened and why all of a sudden she had a flat   
stomach. 

Kathryn of course wanted to see Phoebe immediately. 

Chakotay helped her sit up so that she could see. 

"She's so small." 

"The Doctor said she's small even for being born so early," Chakotay said as he sat down on the bed   
next to her and put his arms around her. 

"He's not sure if she'll make it. If she does well through the next few days, she should be all right. 

Kathryn wanted to pick Phoebe up, but knew the Doctor wouldn't allow it so she just looked at the   
small child, and held Chakotay. 

Chapter 8 

Phoebe grew quite a bit over the next few weeks, growing to the size she was supposed to be   
rapidly. 

A month after Phoebe was born, Kathryn took her home. 

They had been given one of the shuttlecraft for their part of the settlement to use for emergencies, so   
they went home in that. 

Kathryn was glad to get home and see something other than the infirmary. 

When they arrived, they found their place well taken care of. It seemed like everyone on the island   
had pitched in to help. 

Life returned basically to normal after they returned home. Chakotay went back to his horses and   
training Tom to be the same thing, and Kathryn with helping out. 

A week after they came home, B'Elanna went to labor. They once again hurried to the mainland and   
a few hours later she gave birth to a girl whom they named Kathryn after a certain captain. 

Kathryn was honored of course but insisted that they choose another name to avoid confusion in   
later years. 

B'Elanna and Tom finally decided on the name Elizabeth after Tom's mother, but kept Kathryn as a   
middle name. 

The End   



	3. Coming Home

Author's note: This is the Second in my "Luna" series. This one and the next one will all be pretty   
interconnected and maybe a second if I come up with another idea (I originally wrote them as one big   
story, then changed my mind). I enjoyed writing this part and the next part will be a Sliders   
crossover! 

Disclaimers: Paramount owns Star Trek: Voyager. 

Coming Home 

By Sambrea 

A year had passed since the USS Voyager's rather unexpected landing on Luna. 

Kathryn Janeway, former captain of Voyager, looked up from her gardening as she heard hoofbeats   
come up behind her, stopping a second later. 

She stood up and turned the rest of the way around. 

Chakotay, her former first officer, was sitting on the horse, looking down at her. 

"What's up?" Kathryn asked wiping her hands on the overalls she was wearing. 

She was hoping nothing had happened. It was two months after the fateful day that Phoebe was   
born. 

Chakotay jumped down off Midnight, his horse. "I'm not busy right now, and I was wondering if you   
wanted to go for a ride." 

"Sure. Let me go tell Be'lanna. She's watching Phoebe and Elizabeth right now." 

Kathryn quickly walked into the house, told Be'lanna, changed into a clean pair of overalls and   
exited the house. 

Chakotay in the meantime, got Kathryn's horse, Sunshine, and waited for her. 

A few minutes later they left, taking one of the longer trails that they had cleared when they started   
the farm. 

The farm was going well. They had given a lot of trained horses away, only getting a small fee in   
return that depended on what the buyer did for a living: food, coupons for artwork, wooden furniture,   
etc. 

Tom and Be'lanna got half of it since they were partners in the business and also since Kathryn and   
Chakotay didn't need everything that came their way. 

Kathryn looked up at the clear blue sky, reveling in its beauty as they rode. 

She turned to Chakotay to find him already looking at her. She took Chakotay's hand. 

"Beautiful day isn't it," he said. 

"Yeah. It can't get much better than this." 

They kept riding, and a few minutes later as they came over a ridge, they heard a roar nearby that   
was much too loud to be a shuttlecraft landing. 

It lasted only a moment but it got their attention and aroused their curiosity. 

After a couple moments of trotting toward the sound they spotted its source. 

"Damn," Chakotay said as they rounded the final bend. 

"Damn," Kathryn echoed. "Is that what it looks like?" 

Chakotay nodded and started galloping toward the ship crash-landed in the field. 

It was about three times the size of Voyager, but clearly Federation in design. 

As they got closer, Kathryn couldn't see any obvious way in, so she turned to Chakotay. "Take   
Sunshine and go home. Get Tom and come back in the shuttlecraft. We may have an easier time   
getting inside with it, through a shuttlebay or something. Also call Memory and tell them about this if   
they don't already know. We might need people for searching the ship. I'll stay here and look for a   
way in, and in case someone comes out." 

Chakotay nodded and grinned as Kathryn got off Sunshine. "Ok, Captain. I'll be back in a few   
minutes." 

Kathryn shook her head, smiling at his use of 'Captain'. 

++++++++++ 

Ten minutes later, when Chakotay returned with the Phoenix, Kathryn hadn't found any ways inside   
with her own two eyes. 

Chakotay pushed the button for the transporter and watched out the corner of his eye as Kathryn   
materialized and then sat down at the science station. 

Kathryn had already slipped back into command mode. 

"Have you found a way in?" 

"Yes there is a shuttlebay near our current position. Unfortunately, it's doors are closed," Chakotay   
said. 

"Can we cut through it with the phasers?" 

"I think so, It might take a minute though." 

"Go ahead and start. It doesn't look like there's anyone in there." 

A few minutes later, they had cut a large enough hole in the doors to put the Phoenix through. 

It was basically empty, so Tom set the Phoenix down near the exit. 

Kathryn, Chakotay and Tom left the Phoenix a minute later. "I'm surprised no one's out here to meet   
us. Surely someone realizes we just cut a hole in their shuttlebay." 

Kathryn led the way to the door, tricorder in one hand. The door swished open in front of her,   
Kathryn walked through and stopped a few feet from it, giving enough room for Chakotay and Tom   
to move through it. 

Kathryn looked around, and saw a computer panel on the wall opposite her. She walked over to it,   
and looked for a map of the ship. When she found one, she copied in into the tricorder in her hand. 

From there it was only a couple of minutes walk to the bridge. 

They didn't pass a lot of people on the way and the ones they did see were in too big a hurry to do   
more than glance at them. 

When the doors opened to admit them onto the bridge, Kathryn exited the turbolift first, with the   
other two following close behind. 

What they found was chaos. The bridge was in shambles, debris lying all over the place. 

"Well there goes our chance of getting home," Tom whispered, receiving a glare from Kathryn. 

As they stood there, people around them started realizing the threesome didn't belong there. 

A few minutes later, all activity stopped. 

"Kathryn, are you so sure about this was a good idea?" Chakotay asked in a stage whisper. 

"Actually I'm starting to have my doubts." 

A man who was standing in the middle of the bridge tapped his comnbadge. "Captain, I think you   
should come out here. We have visitors." 

A moment later, a door opened to their right and out came the Captain. She was Vulcan in every   
sense of the word: stiff, impersonal, unreadable, etc. She walked over to where they were standing   
and looked them over. "I am Sel'nar, Captain of the USS Star Dreamer, and official representative   
of the United Federation of Planets to the Delta Quadrant. Behind me is my First Officer, James   
Fredrickson. You would be?" 

"I'm Kathryn Janeway, former Captain of the USS Voyager, now resident of Luna, the planet on   
which you crashed. Behind me is my former First Officer, now my husband, Chakotay, and another   
of my former crew members, Tom Paris. " 

Sel'nar raised an eyebrow, then waited a moment as her crew stopped whispering. "I have heard of   
you. How did you get in the Delta Quadrant?" 

Kathryn told a quick version of what had happened, with Chakotay and Tom helping to remember   
everything that had happened. 

"How long has your crew been in the Delta Quadrant?" Kathryn asked as they finished the story. 

"About 5 years. We started at the Bajoran Wormhole and have been exploring ever since." 

"If you get your ship fixed, I'm sure we can give you our charts from our travels." 

"That would be greatly appreciated Captain," Sel'nar said, pausing for a moment. "I'm sure we'd be   
able to find some room for your people on our ship." 

Kathryn looked at Chakotay and Tom. Chakotay shrugged. Kathryn turned back to Sel'nar. "I don't   
think so. We've made a home here. We're not going to pick up everything and move on, at least not   
now. We would be grateful if you could take some notes back to the Alpha Quadrant with you,   
though." 

"I'm sure we can arrange something. We're not going to be heading back to the Alpha Quadrant for   
a few more years, but we've been setting up a network of planets and stations that are willing to pass   
messages back and forth. Any message will eventually get home." 

"Can we send our own messages through this network?" 

Sel'nar nodded. "We'll send word on." 

"How did it happen that your ship crashed here?" 

"We've been having trouble with our systems. Anywhere from navigation to sensors to   
communications to life support. The final product was us crashing here." 

"Captain there's a shuttlecraft approaching," a crewperson working at helm said. 

Friends of yours?" Sel'nar asked. 

"More than likely," Kathryn said. "you can tell them they can come in through the shuttlebay." 

Sel'nar looked at Kathryn hard, raising an eyebrow. "The shuttlebay doors are closed." 

Kathryn heard a snicker behind her and assumed it was Tom. She turned to Tom and said: "All right,   
Tom. Do you want to explain why there's a hole in their shuttlebay doors?" 

"We, um, needed to find a way in, so we punched a hole in your shuttlebay door with our shuttlecraft   
phasers," Tom said sheepishly. 

"Why didn't you just transport in?" said the man standing just behind Sel'nar. 

"We would have but we didn't know what was going on in here, and we didn't want to just jump in   
with our eyes closed. We'd be glad to help you fix it though. I think we have enough supplies from   
when we dismantled Voyager to patch it." 

"How long have you been here?" 

"About a year." 

"How did you get on the ship so fast?" 

"You landed in our backyard. We just happened to be riding nearby." 

"Riding?" 

"We've started domesticating some of the horse-like animals that live on this planet. They're quite   
like the ones on Earth." 

"Would you like a tour of the ship?" 

Kathryn smiled. "I would like nothing better. Tom, why don't you stay here and see if you can't help   
with the repairs. Tuvok and whoever came with him will probably arrive in a few minutes. Chakotay,   
would you like to come with?" 

Chakotay grinned I was wondering if you were going to ask me," he said taking her hand. 

Chapter 2 

The next day, Tom and James Fredrickson took the Phoenix and set up the next link in the network   
above Luna. 

The relay station only took about half a day to put in place. It had already been assembled long   
before it had been brought to Luna and only needed to be programmed. 

A day later, Sel'nar sent the first official message from Luna to the Alpha Quadrant. 

"We've been getting answers about a month after sending them, so I wouldn't expect an answer right   
away. There's a relay station on this side of the Bajoran Wormhole, to make the journey that much   
faster. Each station on the network is on or near an inhabited planet whose peoples are advanced   
enough to maintain and repair them," Sel'nar said after they sent the message. 

"Thank you. I think everyone has messages to record now, especially me." 

"May I ask you a question?" 

"Of course." 

"Did you ever encounter the Borg?" 

Kathryn nodded. "Yes, as a matter of fact we did. About two to three years ago," and proceeded to   
explain what unfolded, from the first sighting of a "dead" drone to Kes's "death" and flinging of   
Voyager past Borg space. "We also picked up a Borg, Seven of Nine. Originally her name was   
Annika, but she's decided to stay with Seven as her name." 

"Interesting. I've been curious about something. How did you decide on the name Luna?" 

"If you take the time, you'll notice there are 7 moons circling this planet. It only seemed reasonable to   
name it after them." 

Sel'nar nodded. "That is reasonable." 

Sel'nar stood up from her seat. "I have things to see to, Captain, so I must take my leave from you. I   
have seen to it that the crew roster is in the hands of your Mr. Tuvok. Your welcome to do more   
looking around, but feel free to do what you want." 

Kathryn stood also. "Thank you. I think I'll go compose a letter of my own." 

Chapter 3 

Two weeks later, the repairs were complete. Sel'nar had allowed the inhabitants of Luna full access   
to the holodecks of the Star Dreamer, which many had used gratefully. 

It was obvious that some of the families wanted to stay on Luna and none of the original inhabitants   
had any problems with that. 

All of the former Voyager officer were invited to be on the bridge for the liftoff: Kathryn, Chakotay,   
Tuvok, Tom, Be'lanna, the EMH, Harry and Seven. The flight was just going to be a test of the   
systems. 

They brought Elizabeth and Phoebe with them, as it was not known how long the flight would take. 

Kathryn and Be'lanna handed over the girls to the daycare center caretakers. 

Despite all the effort to repair the ship, the flight didn't last more than 5 minutes. 

It was obvious almost at once that there were things they hadn't been able to detect that were   
damaged. 

The warp engines wouldn't work more than a few seconds. 

Be'lanna, a few former engineers from the Voyager crew, and the engineering team from the Star   
Dreamer tried for a half an hour to get them to work, but eventually gave up, realizing it was   
impossible to fix them. "I don't think they would have lasted much longer even if you hadn't crashed.   
They're just too overtaxed. That's the same thing that happened to Voyager," Be'lanna would   
eventually say at a conference. 

Kathryn turned to the STAR DREAMER side of the table. "You of course are welcome on Luna   
and everything we have to offer. There are a couple of large continents that are habitable but empty.   
They should be able to house everyone on your ship there." 

Sel'nar nodded. "Thank you, Captain. There's one problem. How do we get everyone off the Star   
Dreamer? I have no wish to crash it again and I doubt anyone's going to agree to it." 

Tom cleared his throat. "I think I have a solution for that, Captain. It may take a while, but what if we   
use the transporters on the Star Dreamer and the shuttles we'd be able to get everyone off. Then we   
could just dismantle it or leave it floating in space." 

"Thank you Mr. Paris. I'll take that into consideration," Sel'nar said, nodding to him. "If that's all,   
let's head back to Luna," she waited a moment for someone to speak up, but the room remained   
silent. "Dismissed." 

++++++++++ 

It took two weeks for everyone to settle down on Luna. As Kathryn had mentioned there were two   
large continents made available to the Star Dreamer crew. It only took one week to move everything   
and everyone off it and then to decide where everyone was to live. 

In the middle of the second week a message arrived from the Alpha Quadrant. 

It was from Captain Benjamin Sisko and the bridge crew of Deep Space Nine (Kira, Worf, Dax,   
O'Brian, and Bashier, plus Quark and Sisko's son Jake). In all reality they were on the Promenade,   
which was filled completely with people. 

Sisko yelled out a moment later. "1...2...3" and the crowd yelled out "Welcome home!!!" and started   
clapping and cheering, shaking the station with all the noise. 

After several minutes of continued cheering, the crowd died down and Sisko continued. "All right, so   
your actually not here, but we deemed your finding a way to communicate regularly with the Alpha   
Quadrant enough for a celebration...and we need a celebration around here." 

Kathryn looked at Chakotay at that, perplexed. He just shrugged. 

"I've already sent word on to Earth along with all the personal messages we received. You should be   
receiving a message from them in less than a week. 

"Along with this message you should receive a few files with an updated history of what has   
happened since you left the Alpha Quadrant six years ago. 

"As you may already know, the Maquis are no more. A couple years ago, when your Doctor came   
through the alien network, the Federation declared the Maquis serving under you Federation citizens.   
Also, on the request of Admiral Paris, Tom is a free man." 

Tom whooped when he heard the news, almost drowning out Chakotay and Kathryn's celebration   
when they heard the news that Chakotay was now a Federation citizen. 

There were hugs all around the small room as Kathryn, Chakotay, Tom and Be'lanna heard the news   
(after all only Kathryn is actually Star Fleet). 

As the message continued, people stepped out of the crowd with messages of their own either for the   
whole crew, individuals or couples, but there wasn't anything for them. 

++++++++++ 

A week later, two messages from the Alpha Quadrant arrived. 

The first was from the President of the Federation, and other than a welcome was filled with boring   
business. 

The second was from Phoebe and Kathryn's mother, despite the fact that Kathryn had yet to send a   
message to them. 

"We couldn't believe the news when we heard Kathryn," her mother said. "It's been so many years   
since we've heard news bout you. I hope this message finds you in good health. 

"We're doing good, so you know. I hope to hear from you soon." 

The message ended and Kathryn turned off the viewer. 

"is that your mother?" Be'lanna asked, coming into the room to sit next to her. "The girls are down   
for a nap, so I heard the message." 

Kathryn nodded. "I'll send a message tonight when Chakotay can make it with me. I don't think they   
ever expected me to get married to a former fugitive." 

"Well, you might never have if you guys hadn't spent four months on that planet together." 

"That's true. We worked out a lot of our differences there. We got close there too, though we   
decided to keep quiet about it after you guys returned for us." 

"That must have been hard. I can't imagine having to put aside my feelings for Tom for 3 years." 

"Well, think of it this way. I had to make life or death decisions every day. If we had continued with   
what we started on New Earth, it probably would have affected the decisions I made later on. I   
would have been afraid to put Chakotay in a dangerous situation, for instance." 

Be'lanna nodded. "That makes sense. There were some pretty dangerous situations we got into. Do   
you ever regret any of the decisions you've made?" 

Kathryn though for a moment. "Sometimes after someone died, or after we destroyed the Caretaker   
array and something or someone reminded me of that. Sometimes I'd cry for those friends lost or left   
behind in the Alpha Quadrant...a lot of the time I'd go to the holodeck, load a peaceful field or   
something and just sit...One of the first things you learn in command school is that the Captain of the   
ship is always separate from the rest of the crew...It's completely true...Some days I felt like I   
needed someone who had been or was going through the same things I was. I felt that talking to   
Chakotay just wasn't enough. After all, he had never been a Starfleet captain. If we had been in the   
Alpha Quadrant I would have been able to talk to my mother or someone else. But out here...there   
really isn't anyone." 

"Kathryn, no one expected you to stick to that. Our situation was so...unique. For goodness sakes   
we weren't even sure you would want to rejoin us after New Earth. Even before that, we could see   
there was something more than friendship between you two. It would have been perfectly fine with us   
if you had told us to give you guys the antidote and head back home! We might not have liked it a   
lot, but we would have done it anyways." 

"You know, to tell you the truth, neither of us wanted to leave, but we both felt it was our duty." 

"What if it happened last year when we were still on Voyager?" 

Kathryn thought for a moment. "I'm not completely sure, but we might have just stayed." 

Chakotay and Tom came in, each giving a kiss to their respective wives. 

"So what's up?" Tom asked. 

"Nothing much really. A message from my mother came through," Kathryn said. 

"That's something," Chakotay said. 

"I want to send her a message, but I figured I'd wait for you to come in before making it." 

"Thank you for thinking of me." 

Chakotay and Tom sat down. It took only 15 minutes to make the message. 

Kathryn turned off the recorder. "Thanks guys for supporthing me to make this message." 

"Well, thank you. If your mother does contact my father after hearing what you said about me, I think   
he'll be extremely surprised. After all, he never expected anything good to come of me." 

"Have you sent him a message yet?" 

Tom shook his head. "I don't want to. It would be better to have him contact me first. I haven't   
talked to him or heard from him in years. If he wants to contact me, that's fine, and if he doesn't,   
that's fine too." 

Kathryn nodded and reached over and sent the message on its way. 

The End 

Author's note: This is by no means the end. It just signifies the end of this section. The next part of   
the series comes right after this. I should have the next section done by the end of June 1999. 


	4. Sliding into Life

Sliding into Life 

By Sambrea 

Author's note: I've always loved Sliders. One of the ways I get into doing a new series in fan fic is writing a crossover. This is   
the third part of my "Luna" series. Enjoy! 

Disclaimers: Paramount owns Voyager. Universal owns Sliders. 

Two weeks later, Kathryn and Chakotay went for another ride, taking the same route they had the day the Star Dreamer had   
crashed. 

It was another beautiful day, and they had been riding for about half an hour when the wind picked up. 

The horses immediately started acting up. 

"What is it with us, riding and things happening?" Chakotay said, trying to get Nightmare calmed down. 

"I'm getting down," Kathryn said as she got out of the saddle. Chakotay did the same a moment later. 

"Where did that wind come from?" Kathryn asked looking around. 

"I don't know. But there's something going on. The horses wouldn't be acting up if there wasn't." 

As they were looking around, a portal opened in front of them, spooking the horses even worse. Kathryn lost hold of Sunshine,   
but Chakotay was able to hold onto Nightmare. 

"Don't worry about her, she'll be able to find her own way home." 

A moment later, four people rolled out of it a few feet from where Kathryn and Chakotay were standing. 

Kathryn and Chakotay looked at each other, and by silent agreement said nothing. 

"Ugh, hard dirt. Why can't we land on something soft for a change Quinn?" 

The person Kathryn assumed was named Quinn, a tall blondish-brown haired man with blue eyes said: "Like we have a choice   
where or how we land. Colin, how much time do we have?" 

The person named Colin took a device out of his pocket, looked at it and blinked in surprise. "We have a...year." 

"A year?! That can't be right. we've never had that much time before." 

"Guys...we have company," a black man said, looking straight at Kathryn and Chakotay. 

"Oh wonderful," Quinn said, helping the one girl in the group up, and looking at the pair. 

"Something doesn't look right with them Kathryn. Their accent is rather strange too. " Chakotay whispered. 

Kathryn nodded. "I noticed that too." 

"Quinn they look normal enough. Except for that horse of course." 

Quinn stepped forward. "I'm Quinn Mallory, and these are my friends Maggie, Rembrandt, and my brother Colin. May I ask   
where we are?" 

Kathryn was silent for a moment, a little surprised at his forwardness. "My name is Kathryn and this is my husband, Chakotay.   
Where do you think you are?" 

Quinn blinked. "I'd assume we're on Earth." 

Kathryn looked at Chakotay. "Should I tell them?" 

Chakotay just shrugged. "It's up to you. If we don't and we run into Be'lanna..." 

Kathryn nodded. "Good point, but we don't know how they got here." She turned back to Quinn. "How did you get here?" 

Quinn started to say something, but Maggie stopped him. "Quinn, we don't know anything about them. If we tell them about you   
know what, we could get in trouble." 

"Kathryn," Chakotay whispered. "I just realized why they don't look right. Remember 3 years ago when we were in San   
Francisco? The clothes were like that." 

"Your right, Chakotay. We have a big problem. What year is it?" she asked Quinn. 

Quinn hesitated before answering. "1999. Why?" he asked cautiously. 

"Because we have a big problem. Chakotay why don't you go get some more horses. Se if you can't find Sunshine well your at   
it. I'll start walking with them back. Tell Tom and Be'lanna that we've got visitors again and warn Be'lanna about them. I'll try to   
get them to tell me how they got here." 

Chakotay nodded, mounted Nightmare quickly, and left, galloping down the trail. 

"Warn her about what?" Colin asked after Chakotay left. 

"You'll understand when you meet her. Let's get going. It will take us longer to get home on foot than it took me and Chakotay   
to get here on horseback," Kathryn said, motioning to the way Chakotay had left. They started moving back that way. 

"Home?" Quinn asked. 

"Well, you guys aren't from around here, that's for sure, and at the very least you look like you could use a good home cooked   
meal, so you might as well come home with us. You certainly can't stay out here," Kathryn said with a grin. "There's not much   
out here in the way of shelter or people of any sorts. So, anyways, how did you get here?" 

"We're Sliders." 

"Excuse me?" 

"We slide from world to world, or Earth to Earth, if you want to think of it that way. We use this device to do exactly that," he   
said, holding it out for her to look at. 

"You mentioned a year. What does that have to do with it?" 

"We never know how long we're going to be on any given planet. If we don't hit the countdown on time, we're stuck on a   
world. Sometimes it's less than a minute, sometimes it's a few hours, days, weeks, but it's never been a year." 

"How long have you been sliding?" 

"About 5 years. We're actually from 3 different worlds. Me and Rembrandt are all that is left from the original team. Our other   
two original members either died, or is missing, and we're searching for her. Maggie is from a war-torn world whose inhabitants   
were going to slide out. She was left behind since someone had to stay behind to close the slide. We took her with us when we   
left that world. Colin is my long-lost brother, who I ran into on one of the worlds we passed through. Apparently our parents   
were also Sliders. They were running from the Kromaggs when they left us behind. We've run into the Kromaggs a few times   
too. They got Remmy and Wade, who was on our original team, but we got Remmy back. We haven't been able to find Wade,   
unfortunately." 

"I'm sorry to hear that. I guess I should start telling you where you are. 

"Unfortunately for you, you're not on Earth. My guess is that somehow you went through a timewarp/wormhole anomaly of   
some sort. The year is actually 2319, and you're about 5 years away from Earth," she paused a moment to let that sink in. "We   
are able to send and receive messages from Earth fortunately, so I'm sure you can have the chance to find relatives. 

"Since you spoke of Kromaggs you might know that 'aliens' do exist, at least in this dimension. We have quite a few on Luna:   
Vulcans, Klingons, a Talaxian, a former Borg, and humans among others. Many of them are at least partially human-like. I've   
never heard of the Kromaggs, so my guess is they don't exist here." 

"How do you know of Earth if we're so far from it?" 

"None of us are originally from Luna. I'm from Indiana originally. Chakotay's home planet isn't Earth, but he has ties to it, which   
I'm sure he'd be happy to explain to you." 

"How did you get out here?" 

Kathryn grinned. "That would take quite a while to explain. When we have a few hours I'll tell you the long version. Let's just   
say we were explorers and we found out that there were some beings that have some amazing powers." 

At that moment, Chakotay, Tom and five horses, including Sunshine came pounding up. 

"Can any of you ride?" Kathryn asked. Everyone shook their heads. 

"That's all right. I picked out easy going horses. They shouldn't have any problems," Tom said, butting in. 

"This is Tom everyone. Tom, this is Quinn, Colin, Maggie and Rembrandt." 

"Have you learned how they got here?" Chakotay asked as they mounted the horses. 

"Yeah. It's a net way to travel, too. But I'll let Quinn explain it." 

By the time Quinn had finished explaining what he had told Kathryn they had reached the edge of the farm. 

"You might find that we have a rather unusual setup here on Luna. Our farm is rather low-tech except for some of our   
equipment we use or have for emergencies." 

"Like what?" Maggie asked, speaking finally. 

"Well, one of them will come into view when we reach the house which is our shuttlecraft," Tom said. 

"Woah," Rembrandt said in surprise. "You don't use cars?" 

"Umm, no. Those were upgraded to... other things later on," Tom said, blinking in surprise. 

"Too bad. There were some awesome cars." 

"I'm sure if we replicated the parts we could rebuild one." 

"Woah, hold on a second Tom. Those cars were extremely pollutant. If you start building cars..." 

"I'm sure we can find something other than gasoline to fuel it," Tom said quickly. 

"I hope so, because I've got a feeling this is quickly going to turn into something where everyone will want one. 

"I think the four of you should stay here for the night at least. We have enough room for all of you, and Memory needs to know   
about our new residents." 

"Memory?" 

"Our town here on Luna. Many of the people who don't want to farm live there, along with Tuvok, who took over the task of   
leading the Voyager group." 

"Took over? From whom?" 

"Me and Chakotay. We were Captain and Commander before coming to Luna." 

"Well, you guys are full of surprises," Rembrandt said, laughing slightly. 

They reached the house at that point. Kathryn dismounted with Chakotay and the other four as Be'lanna came out on the porch   
holding Phoebe and Elizabeth. She handed Phoebe to Kathryn as she stepped off the porch next to the horses. 

"Thanks," Kathryn said and turned to the group. "This is Be'lanna, her daughter Elizabeth, and I'm holding my daughter   
Phoebe." 

Maggie stepped forward. "She's cute. How old is she?" 

"Thank you. She's about four months old." 

Maggie turned to Be'lanna. "It's nice to meet you. It take it from your head ridges your not human. May I ask what you are?" 

Be'lanna smiled. Actually I'm half human. I'm also half Klingon." 

"I better go get the horses unsaddled and all that," Chakotay said, taking the reins from everyone and heading toward the barn. 

"I'll help you," Tom said following him. 

"Be'lanna, this is Quinn, Colin, Maggie and Rembrandt. Their inter-dimensional travelers. Quinn, don't be surprised if she has a   
lot of questions for you. She was our Chief Engineer on Voyager. Let's get them settled first though, before you start that,   
Be'lanna." 

Kathryn had seen her eyes light up at the words 'interdimensional travelers' so she knew there was going to be a lot of   
questions. 

++++++++++ 

A hour later, after the Sliders had taken a shower and replicated new clothes, they were sitting on the front porch eating dinner   
and talking. 

Kathryn had let the Sliders replicate whatever they wanted for dinner, allowing them to have something more from their time   
period. 

"What are you going to do with us?" Quinn asked between bites. 

"Well, it's really up to you. We can always use more help here on the farm, if any of you are interested. There's always the   
choice of starting your own business or farm. It sounded like Rembrandt was interested in building a car for instance. He could   
start a car building and maintaining business. We do need something like that in between a horse and a shuttlecraft," Kathryn   
said. 

"I've always liked horses," Maggie said, smiling. "Maybe I'll stay here." 

"We'd be glad to have you, Maggie." 

At that point the wind picked up. "Quinn, I don't like this," Maggie said, standing up. 

"Neither do I, Maggie. Neither do I." 

Two vortexes opened. "Damn. It's Kromagg," Quinn said, jumping off the porch after seeing it was red. 

Everyone else followed him off the porch, not sure what else to do. 

A moment later, people started pouring out of both, but to everyone's surprise they weren't Kromagg, but female humans. 

It quickly became apparent why there were two vortexes. When they closed finally, there were about 50 women laying about. 

"Damn," Rembrandt said. "Where did they come from?" 

Kathryn realized immediately there was something wrong. Almost no one was standing up. "Chakotay, call Memory. Tell them   
we need help here now. Also call New York (what the Star Dreamer people had named their town). We're going to need   
their help too. Call some of our neighbors while your at it. They'll be able to get here faster than anyone else will be able to.   
Tom, run into the house and grab all the medical supplies we have including the ones on the shuttlecraft." 

"Kathryn... there's only one place all of them could have come from... a reproduction center," Quinn said quietly as he looked   
around. 

"Damn," Maggie said. "I hate to admit it but your right, Quinn." 

"A what?" Be'lanna yelped, surprised. 

"I'll explain later. We need to help them first though." 

"Is it possible Wade's in the group?" Maggie asked. 

"It's impossible to know Maggie," Quinn said as he moved to the closest woman. 

A moment later, Tom came running back out of the house with the medical devices. He handed one to Kathryn, who   
immediately opened the kit and took out a tricorder. 

Chakotay came out a minute later. "Everyone I could get a hold of is on their way. Out closest neighbors should get here in a   
few minutes. I also told anyone to bring any medical supplies they had." He picked up a medical tricorder and moved around   
the group to start and the back, yelling to Colin to pick up a pack and join him. 

Within a few minutes, he had taught Colin how to use it. He called Maggie over, but she was trying to get some of the women   
who were standing around to sit down on the porch. 

She acknowledged his request with a wave, but didn't leave her self-appointed task. 

Chakotay looked around and saw everyone was busy. Quinn had apparently run inside and had replicated his own equipment: a   
pad of paper and a pen. As Chakotay watched, Quinn took a flask of water from his side, and warning the recipient to take it   
easy, gave it to her. Then after asking her a couple of questions tore off the piece of paper and handed it to her. 

Chakotay turned as he heard hoofbeats come up a trail. 

The hoofbeats stopped as the riders saw the task before them. 

"Where did all these women come from?" a former ensign asked, getting off her horse. 

"I don't have time to explain, but you can see why we need help. We need a couple people who can look after any horses that   
come in. Why don't you take care of that. Everything you'll need is in the barn." 

"Who are the people already helping you? I don't recognize them." 

"Meet Maggie, Quinn, Colin, and Rembrandt. They came in the same way as this group earlier today. They might have a tie to   
this group, though if she's with them, it'll take a while to find her." 

"We'll get started with the horses. Good luck with them, it looks like you'll need it." 

Somewhere in the middle of the crowd a woman smiled slightly and closed her eyes, knowing it would be a while before she   
was found. 

++++++++++ 

Chakotay spent the next hour and a half directing volunteers. 

Just as he thought he would fall asleep on his feet he was tapped on the shoulder by Tuvok. "Go get some sleep Chakotay.   
Kathryn, Be'lanna, and Tom, plus your four friends already heading to bed. We can take it from here." 

"Thank you, Tuvok. If you find a woman named Wade, wake us up immediately, even if its ten minutes from now." 

"I know. Kathryn asked me the same thing. I've already told the information takers. You go get some rest now." 

Chakotay nodded and headed to the house. 

He walked onto the porch, and seeing Quinn and Rembrandt sitting there on the side opposite the one where the walking were,   
made a detour. 

Quinn looked over from his watching as Chakotay sat down across from them. 

"How are you guys doing?" 

"Tired," Quinn said, and Rembrandt nodded. "But I know I'm not going to get any sleep right now. I can understand why Colin   
can sleep, he never knew her; Maggie didn't know her nearly as long as we did, but I can't figure out how she can sleep." 

"I can't and neither can Colin," Maggie said, walking out onto the porch with Colin at her side. 

"There's too much excitement in the air to sleep, even for me." 

"Well, as much as I'd love to sit around and wait I need my sleep. I don't doubt I'll fall asleep as soon as my head hits the   
pillow. Good night everyone." 

The sliders echoed him, and he turned to the door to go inside when a commotion came from the direction of the crowd. 

Two people ran up to the railing, a moment later. 

Quinn and Rembrandt were already standing up. 

"We found her!" the woman said, smiling. 

Quinn immediately jumped the railing, with Rembrandt and Maggie right behind him. Chakotay and Colin took the easy way off   
the porch: the stairs, but were right behind them as they went streaming across the field at a dead run. 

Chakotay made his way through the crowd as quickly as he could so as not to miss any of the reunion. 

"Quinn!" Wade said on the sight of him running through the crowd. She held her arms out to him and he ran into them. 

"We never gave up hope we would find you Wade, not once," he said crying. 

Chakotay felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked over to see Kathryn join him. 

He slipped his hand into hers as they watched the reunion continue. 

Rembrandt and Maggie joined the hug a moment later, putting all four in tears and a few watching, including Kathryn and   
Chakotay. 

Quinn looked up, searching the crowd. He found what he was looking for a moment later. "Colin, come here." 

Colin came over, hesitating as he did. 

"Wade, meet my brother Colin, the newest member of our group." 

Wade looked at him in surprise. "You never told me you had a brother." 

"I never knew until last year." 

Chakotay mover over to them and kneeled next to the group. "Why don't we move Wade onto the porch, Quinn. You guys can   
get away from the crowd and talk more privately. Plus that will give everyone else a chance to help the rest of this large group." 

"Sure, Chakotay. I'd like to mover her myself, though." 

Chakotay nodded, and stood up with Quinn as he picked up Wade. 

"Quinn this is nice and all, but I think I can walk." 

Quinn stopped walking. "You want to try?" 

Wade nodded and he set her down. After a moment of standing still to get her balance, she tried to take a step, but almost fell   
on her face, only being saved by Quinn, who was standing right behind her. 

"Okay. That's enough of that," Quinn said, picking her back up and carrying her the rest of the way to the porch. 

Even after sitting down, he didn't let go of her, sitting with her on his lap, as if he was afraid that if he let go she would disappear. 

Kathryn and Chakotay sat down across from the pair, with Maggie, Colin and Rembrandt sitting on the third. 

Quinn still had tears in his eyes, much to the other Sliders surprise. 

Only Rembrandt knew how many nights Quinn had not been able to sleep due to his overwhelming grief, since Rembrandt was   
a light sleeper. Many a night he had sat up with Quinn long after Maggie and eventually Colin had gone to sleep, helping get   
over the loss. For Rembrandt, all those long nights were made worth it just to see them together again. 

"You know, you guys are going to have a lot of explaining to do. There are going to be a lot of people who are going to want to   
know how you guys got here, along with the 50 women. You are the only ones who know what this is whole thing is about,"   
Kathryn said. 

"I think we're going to be ready for that, Kathryn. If someone wants to use our timer in a year to check out sliding, so be it,"   
Quinn said shifting in his seat. 

"Wait a second. You want to make this your home permanently?" 

Quinn looked at his companions, who all nodded and smiled. 

"Kathryn, we've been sliding for a long time. We've been home once, maybe twice, after all we never didn't have enough time to   
find out for sure the first time. And the second time..." he shrugged. 

"Q-ball, what about the gate?" 

"Remmy, we only had 53 seconds to decide. What if it had been home? If we had had more time..." 

"Guys, let's stop that. There's no point in thinking about what could have been. We've found a home now. If that had been   
home, we would all have been caught by the Kromagg. I spent two years in a reproduction centre. I would not want to see   
what they did to me done to you. Remmy, I'm sure your experience with them wasn't a picnic was it." Rembrandt shook his   
head. 

"Yeah, no kidding. When we did find him, he was in pretty bad shape. We never did find out all they did to him, but I'm not   
sure I'd want to. We won't make you relive it though unless you want to someday. Nor you, Wade," Maggie said, smiling sadly,   
and patting Rembrandt's shoulder. 

Chakotay cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. 

"Oh, geez. I'm sorry. Wade, this is Kathryn and Chakotay. They own the property here." 

Wade nodded to the two. 

"I've got a story to tell you guys. Wade, as much as I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in order to tell the story truthfully,   
you must know two things. One, I assume you believe we are on Earth... Well, in fact we are not. This is the planet Luna. 

"You are rather lucky. Many of us are human here, though we do have 'aliens' living with us. Also this is not the year 1999, but   
in fact 2319." 

Chakotay stopped talking for a moment to let her digest that information. "I'm sure you have lots of questions but I'd like to tell   
the story first. 

All right?" Wade nodded. 

"Actually this is for all of you. Kathryn's already heard it as well as a few people." 

"I'm sure you guys have noticed my tattoo..." and he launched into a story about what his beliefs were, about his tribe, the   
Cardassians, the Neutral Zone, what happened to his people, the Maquis and finally Voyager. 

Author's note: I originally was going to put it in for all those Slider fans who might be reading this, but had too much trouble   
trying to work through it. Sorry. 

"What are animal guides?" Wade asked. "They're just what they're name implies: their there to guide you along the path of life.   
Every single person has at least one. It's just a matter of knowing how to contact it. Be'lanna is one of the few who have two.   
She's also the only person I've ever met who's tried to kill hers," Chakotay said, rolling his eyes. 

Wade was leaning back against Quinn at that point, completely relaxed and her eyes almost closed. 

"Why don't we go get some sleep? I think everyone's tired," Kathryn said, standing up. "Chakotay, why don't you show   
everyone where to sleep. I need to speak to Tuvok before I come to bed. I'll be up in a minute." 

"All right Kathryn," Chakotay said, giving her a quick kiss. 

Kathryn smiled and left the porch, heading to where she could see Tuvok standing. 

"Me and Chakotay are going to bed, along with the Sliders. How are you guys doing?" 

"We are 3/4 of the way through Kathryn. We should finish within the next two hours. May I ask how all of them got here?" 

"Later Tuvok. Ask Quinn and his friends. They know what happened and you can get the story from them. They've been   
traveling the same way for five years. They want to make this their final home." 

"What happened to their home?" 

"The Kromagg invaded." 

"Excuse me, but the what?" 

"I've never heard of them either. Ask Quinn. I'm going to bed Tuvok. Feel free to replicate anything you need." 

"Thank you Kathryn. Good night." 

Kathryn nodded to him and headed to the house. 

Despite the fact that it was almost dawn, Kathryn fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. 

Chapter 2 

Chakotay woke up to someone knocking on the bedroom door some hours later. 

Quinn stuck his head in the door and fell silent as Chakotay motioned him to be quiet. 

Chakotay took his arms from around Kathryn, who was still fast asleep. He silently left the room, closing the door behind him. 

"I'm going to let her sleep. She was really tired earlier." 

Quinn nodded. "They got through everyone a couple hours ago. Things are starting to wind down now with people accepting   
the women for care at their homes." 

"How's Wade doing?" 

"Sleeping peacefully right now. Something that one of the doctors gave her helped quite a bit." 

They walked out onto the porch and Chakotay could see Quinn was telling the truth. Very few women were still on the field. 

"Your friends have been using those shuttlecrafts of yours to transport the women." Quinn said. 

"They got that done efficiently, and quickly I must say." 

"Actually it wasn't that quiet. You guys must have been out cold." 

Tuvok walked up to them. "We've gotten the story of what happened. Apparently your friend Wade led a rebellion to   
overthrow their captors on another world. 

"The only reason why it succeeded was because of their sheer numbers. Apparently about 150 captives survived and split up   
into three groups, each picking a dimension and sliding into it. This group was the last to leave, about a day later than the other   
two, after Wade made a final request for the picking of it. 

"She asked for a dimension that had some recent sliding activity, where three or maybe four people who weren't Kromagg had   
slid in. She wouldn't tell anyone why she had asked for that, but a lot of people guessed she had a group of friends who were   
Sliders." 

Quinn shook his head and grinned. "She never was the kind to give up." 

"How many went to Memory?" 

"23 went to Memory and 27 went to homes." 

Chakotay nodded. 

"Mister Quinn will be so kind to impart to me how you, your friends and all the rest of the women got here?" 

Quinn nodded. "I need to get the timer first. Excuse me a moment." 

A minute later he came back out with Rembrandt, and handed the device to Tuvok. 

"This is the timer me and my friends use to slide. You'll notice that it's counting down. We have no control over how much time   
we have on any given world." 

"What happens if you miss the slide window?" 

"We're stuck on that world. We've never had that problem but it's 20 some years till the next one opens." 

"How many worlds have you been to?" 

Quinn shrugged. "We've never kept track. I'd guess about 200. What do you think Remmy?" 

"I have no clue either Q-Ball. It might very well be 200." 

"How did Wade get captured?" 

"It started when we were sliding. Somehow me and Maggie got separated from Rembrandt and Wade. We still don't know   
what happened exactly. 

"Wade and Rembrandt went home on that slide. Me and Maggie continued sliding, always looking for some signs as to where   
they were but never finding any. Eventually, after 3 months we got home, but it was not the same home we had left 3 years ago. 

"The Kromaggs had invaded between their arrival and ours. There was a hotel we had agreed to always go to if we got   
separated called The Dominion. As soon as we arrived we of course went there, hoping to find Wade and Rembrandt there. 

"After talking with the people who ran the Dominion still despite the invasion, we learned that Rembrandt and Wade had indeed   
been there, but had been taken right after the invasion. 

"I was skeptical at first, since it very well might have been two doubles of theirs but Wade had given them this." 

Quinn took a necklace out of his pocket that was beaded with the Wade's name, and handed it to Tuvok. He looked at it and   
handed it to Chakotay who also looked at it, then handed it back to Quinn who put it back in his pocket. 

"We've all kept little trinkets throughout our travels. A lot of the stuff came from home. Things to remind us of what we had left   
behind and what we wanted to find again. 

"We were able to find Rembrandt, but as he can tell you, he was in pretty bad shape. I had to convince him it was actually me   
before he would come with us... 

"The only information we ever found out about Wade was the name of a planet, but without the coordinates for it we were   
stuck. We just continued sliding since we didn't have much choice. Now we're basically homeless sliding from world to world   
looking for a place to call home. I think we've found one if you'll have us." By the time he had finished telling the tale, there were   
quite a few other people listening. Quinn looked around, self-conscious. 

No one said anything for a moment, then Tuvok nodded. "We had not expected any more inhabitants to join us, but of course,   
you are welcome. What about the others?" 

"There's no way to tell. Obviously some will stay, but I'm sure many will want to move on. I'm sure I can build a few more   
timers in a few months time. They're not that hard to build, at least not after I built the first one." 

"Have you ever had to build another one?" 

Quinn shook his head. "Just repair it a few times. But I was the one to invent and produce it." 

"Starfleet will be interested in the technology." 

"Somehow I'm not surprised, but what's Starfleet?" 

Chakotay broke in. "Me and Kathryn will explain later." He turned to Tuvok. "Everything's basically finished here. It shouldn't   
be any trouble to take care of Wade. You guys can head back home. Thanks for all the help." 

People started moving away from the field which was not in too bad of a shape, just trampled. 

After 5 minutes, the porch was deserted with people headed to the shuttlecraft waiting to take them home to either to Memory   
or the Star Dreamer equivalent, San Francisco. There were also people heading to the barn to retrieve their horses. 

"People sure left fast," Rembrandt commented. 

"I think everyone just wants to go home and bed. That's what I want to do certainly," Chakotay said, heading inside. Quinn and   
Rembrandt followed him in. 


	5. Changes

Disclaimers: Paramount owns Voyager. Universal owns Sliders. Nickelodeon owns Space Cases? (I really have no idea on that count.) Kenny Loggins owns the rights to "House at Pooh Corner" 

Author's note: For those of you who are reading this and wondering what the heck Space Cases is go to: http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Hollow/9643/sccrew.html If you want more info than what it has on the characters, email me and I'd be glad to give you more. 

Also, I'm using "House at Pooh Corner" as a supplement to this story because I was trying to think of songs that dealt with the loss of innocence or the growing up of children, and I thought that this would be a perfect example. 

Changes   
By Sambrea 

"Christopher Robin and I walked along   
Under branches lit up by the moon   
Posing our questions to owl and Eeyore   
As our days disappeared all too soon   
But I wandered much farther today than I should   
And I can't seem to find my way back to the wood" 

Quinn and Wade went on their honeymoon a few days later. 

What they were planning on doing was exploring a ways beyond Luna's system in one of the directions that hadn't been explored. 

There weren't any other families going on the trip, as they had requested. They both knew how to use their vehicle of choice, an RV outfitted with warp capability and a powerful communications system. 

A few days later they came upon a large nebula (they found out what it was after contacting Luna). 

They stayed nearby for a couple of hours, collecting data for the databanks on Luna. 

++++++++++ 

In another dimension, the Christa moved closer to an exact duplicate of the nebula Quinn and Wade were seeing. 

Mrs. Davenport had instructed Harlan to take them as close as possible for an up-close study of it. 

Everyone groaned. Another wonderful science lesson. Nobody liked any of her lessons except maybe Rosie, who often knew all the answers. 

This time was no different from those previous lessons. Rosie was happily and enthusiastically answering the questions and the rest of the crew looking absolutely bored. 

Catalina, a human look alike except for her rainbow colored hair, looked down at her panel in the middle of the lesson and saw something she didn't like. "Co... commander! The nebula..." 

Commander Goddard turned his head from the interrupted lesson and looked directly at Catalina. "What is it?" 

"It's...it's engulfing us!" 

"What?! How can that be?" he asked walking over to her.   
"I don't know Commander. What I do know is that it has complete control. I can't do anything!" she said, shaking her head. 

"Harlan," the Commander said, turning to a young African-American looking man standing at the controls. 

Harlan shook his head. "I can't do anything either sir. We're being sucked in too rapidly." 

"Everyone hold onto something. It might be a bumpy ride. Let's hope we come out the other side," Commander Goddard said. 

Everyone grabbed their console and a minute later the turbulence picked up. 

It didn't last more than five minutes, but the damage was massive. 

++++++++++ 

Quinn was looking at the nebula when his console beeped. 

Wade came up front and sat down next to him, coffee cup in hand. "What's going on?" she asked. 

"There's something coming through the nebula," Quinn said, pushing a few buttons. 

"From where?" 

"I have no idea. I don't even know how anything can survive that mess." 

A moment later, they got a good look at the vessel. 

"What the heck is that?" Wade asked. 

Quinn was already working hard at his console. "I see four life signs on board, all in the same area." 

"I'm going to contact Luna. They need to know what's coming through, and maybe they have some idea as to what it might be," Wade said, standing up and moving towards the back. 

"They said to be careful. Have you tried to contact them?" 

"Yeah, but it's as if their all unconscious or something. We should transport them over or go over there. I'm reading one human, and the rest the computer doesn't recognize." 

"Let's go over there then. I'll grab a medkit." 

++++++++++ 

Ten minutes later they materialized on the bridge of the Christa. 

The people Quinn had seen on the sensors were strewn all over the room. 

"I count seven people Quinn." 

"So do I. It seems like not everyone made it," he said, squeezing her hand. 

"Does the RV have enough power to tow it back to Luna in case we can't get the engine started?" 

"The engines are only slightly damaged. With a few hours of repairs they should be in working condition," said a voice behind them, causing them to spin around. 

Before them was a strange looking creature partially covered with metal. 

"Who are you? Or more to the point, what are you?" Wade asked. 

"Wade," Quinn murmured warningly out the side of his mouth. 

"I am Thelma, a Technological Human EmuLating MAchine." 

""It's very nice to meet you, Thelma. Your friends are in pretty bad shape, so let's start helping them." 

"May I ask you a question?" 

Quinn nodded. 

"Who are you and where do you come from?" 

"Fair enough. I'm Quinn and this is my wife Wade. We're from Luna, a world not too far from here," Quinn said as he walked toward the nearest person. Wade did the same opposite from him. 

They quickly discerned who was alive and who wasn't. 

"Quinn, does it look like these people are children to you?" 

"That is correct. Almost all of the crewmembers aboard the Christa are children," Thelma said. 

"How can that be?" 

"I don't know but some of them are hurt really badly. I can't do much for them here. Why don't you go back to the RV Wade and contact Luna. We need them to bring the Doctor out her as soon as possible. Or maybe...Thelma, can we use the communication system here?" 

"Yes, the communications system is working." 

"Your going to have to show me what to do," Wade said. 

"I've already been in contact with the computer aboard your transportation and located the coordinates for your home system. You can communicate with them now." 

"Umm, thanks Thelma. Wade to Luna..." 

"Uhh..." 

Quinn looked around, and found the source of the sound to be a little girl with a red face. He hurried over as she tried to sit up. 

"Relax, you're hurt," he said, trying to lay her back down. 

The girl laid back down and when she realized the voice wasn't familiar darted back up and immediately regretting it. "Who are you?" 

Quinn sighed and pushed her gently back down again. "I told you to be careful. I'm Quinn and my wife Wade's over there. We were taking scientific data of the nebula when your ship came through. Your the first one to awaken." 

"Can you turn on the lights? I can't see anything." 

It was then Quinn noticed a sort of faraway look in her eyes that he knew could be attributed only to blindness. 

Quinn cleared his throat in embarrassment. "The lights are on." 

The girl was silent for a moment. "Does that mean I'm blind?" 

Wade kneeled down next to Quinn. "Honey, what's your name?" she asked. 

"Rosie." 

"Well, Rosie, it might just be temporary. We don't know what happened to make you blind so we can't say. Their on their way," she said to Quinn. 

"Who are?" 

"Friends of ours. Can you tell us what happened?" 

"Mrs. Davenport asked us to get as close as we could or dared to teach us a lesson." 

"A lesson?" 

"She's basically our teacher. Anyway, we got sucked into it. I'm not sure how long we were inside it, Thelma might be able to tell you that..." 

"Exactly ten minutes and 32 seconds." 

"Umm, right. Anyways, it was a pretty bad flight. I'm surprised any of us survived." 

Actually, not everyone did, Rosie," Quinn said gently after glancing at Wade. 

Rosie sighed. "If you can describe them to me, I can tell you what the names are of the people who survived." 

"There were two adults, one female and one male, and a young man with spiraled ears." 

"Well, there goes our chance of getting home. The man's Commander Seth Goddard and the woman's Mrs. Davenport. The young man was Radu. Can you tell what happened to them?" 

"Their bodies couldn't take the beating. I'm not sure what happened to Radu though. What about your other friends?" 

"The girl with the rainbow colored hair will be Catalina, the human is Harlan, and the boy with antennae is Bova." 

"There is a small spacecraft approaching at a high speed," Thelma said. 

"USS Phoenix to Quinn or Wade." 

"Can you patch us through to them?" 

"Yes." 

"Quinn to Kathryn." 

"Go ahead Quinn. What's going on?" 

"One of the children is awake now but we still need help. The adults of the crew are dead and now all that's left are children." 

"How many are there?" 

"Four children, 2 dead adults and another dead child and an artificial intelligence." 

"Kathryn glanced over at Chakotay and mouthed "An android?!" 

Chakotay just shrugged. 

"We'll be over there in a few minutes with the Doctor, Quinn." 

"Quinn out." 

++++++++++ 

That basically and effectively ended Quinn and Wade's honeymoon. They took in all four of the children into their home. Rosie, who found out from the Doctor that her blindness was due to the fact that she had landed when she fell on a metal panel. The Doctor wasn't sure if she would ever regain her sight. Harlan lost his right leg to a falling control panel. Catalina got caught under a conduit and lost the use of her legs, requiring a hoverchair; and Bova lost an arm to another control panel. 

Author's note: I realize changing the characters from Space Cases that radically is not necessary, but it seemed like a good way to add a twist and some variation to the series and not just have 17 people living in one house which to me sounded boring in the first place. 

The Doctor was able to fix the broken limb easily, but it took longer for Harlan and Bova to get used to their prothstetic limbs and for Rosie to get used to the complete darkness. 

It was quickly established with information from the Christa and Rosie that the crew was from an alternate universe. 

There was a small service a few days after the remaining crew of the Christa were happily situated on the New Beginnings Ranch as it had been recently been named. 

The Christa disappeared from orbit not long after that. "She's moved on to find a new crew," Catalina said. "She saw us to a place where we're accepted for who we are, and has moved on to find a new group of misfits who need guidance." 

They were all sitting on the porch that evening, talking and watching Phoebe and Elizabeth explore the porch by crawling. 

Kathryn glanced at Chakotay when Catalina said this. "What do you mean?" 

"Well the Christa is a living organism, surely you knew that." 

"Well no actually. That would explain the readings we were getting though. But what about all the damage she took?" 

"She has the ability to heal herself. We've found that out for ourselves these last few years," Harlan said. 

They continued to talk for a while longer that night before all went to bed. 

"So help me if you can I've got to get   
Back to the house at Pooh corner by one   
You'd be surprised there's so much to be done   
Count all the bees in the hive,   
Chase all the clouds from the sky   
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh" 

Chapter 2 

Over the next month things got back to somewhat normalcy. Everyone helped out around the ranch, even Rosie. Wade found out she was pregnant a couple months after the honeymoon. Rembrandt proposed to Maggie not long afterwards. 

The ceremony was not much more than an exchanging of vows at the request of both Maggie and Rembrandt, neither of whom wanted to make a big deal out of it. 

Erin took her leave a couple weeks after that to go home with a few other women who weren't feeling comfortable in the futuristic setting. 

The professor was sad to see her go but did not attempt to convince her to stay. 

Phoebe and Elizabeth continued to grow, learning to both walk and talk around the same time. 

Without a true school system on Luna and many children of school age on the Star Dreamer (SD) side, they started their own. 

That prompted the people at Memory to start thinking about the eventual need for the same system. 

It did not go unnoticed that two sets of school systems were needed: one at Memory and one near the ranch. 

At that point it was just a preschool but it had the room to expand when it would be needed in a few years. 

When the call came for people willing to be teacher both The Professor and Wade volunteered. 

The Professor had never taught children, but he had been reading the recent history of the Federation and what Voyager had gone through, and was gladly accepted to teach both fundamental science and history at San Francisco and moved there not long after. He still kept in touch with his friends on the ranch though. 

Wade was also accepted as a teacher at the school near the ranch. Catalina and Rosie volunteered to be teaching assistants and also were both accepted. 

Quinn started a campaign to get a fighting force put together in case the Kromaggs ever invaded. 

"I would not wish that life on my worst enemy, for it is no life at all. You all saw the women who came here that night. They were all in pretty bad shape. That was not a result of sliding, that was a result of the Kromaggs treatment. 

"I do have a brother out there that is looking for a way to beat the Kromaggs. But there is no guarantee that he'll ever succeed or even that he's still alive. 

"It might still happen that one day that a vortex will open and he will arrive with the news that the Kromaggs exist no longer. Even if that day comes tomorrow we must be ready for the fact that it might never. If we can put a force on each inhabited continent we should be in good shape. I can show people how to track vortexes coming in and how many people are arriving. If you want to preserve your way of life here, now's the time to start planning, not later on when it may be too late." 

Not surprisingly, his speech brought a strong reaction from people all over Luna. He had broadcast it live on Neelix's morning show after all, and there was no telling how many people watched that every morning. 

There was a cry for Quinn himself to lead the forces himself to lead the forces but he declined the honor noting that: "There are many more people on this planet who have combat experience than I. Me and my friends can tell you what to expect but we can't lead you." 

The badly unused communicators were put back in use after that. Volunteers in the fighting force wore them whenever they left their home, even if it was to go visit another volunteer. Some even wore them in their own home to ensure they would get a call to duty much faster. 

Almost every adult, both men and women on Luna and many of the former prisoners of the Kromaggs volunteered, surprising the former Sliders who had never expected such an outpouring of support. Almost all of the non-volunteers were pregnant or nursing like Wade who didn't want to be caught on the battlefield at such a time in their lives. 

The continent the ranch was on got their own Doctor a couple weeks after the successful campaign. She was originally on the medical staff of the SD but when asked to become the much needed doctor on the continent of New York. The continent Memory was on was named Song just because it was the most liked and the least confusing name suggested. The continent San Francisco was on was named United. 

Kathryn was sending almost daily messages to the Alpha Quadrant with news of her adopted family and Luna in general. 

She was also getting messages from both her mother and Starfleet Command almost daily, despite the fact that she had officially resigned her commission over six months before. 

She found it strange that her mother hadn't mentioned Phoebe for some time and asked her about it, but never got an answer to that question. Rosie's sight was not getting any better. She wasn't happy about it, but there was nothing the Doctor could do for her and she was starting to find her way around the ranch by herself s it was. 

"Being blind is like having your eyes closed or covered all the time," Rosie said when a curious preschooler asked. 

All the curiosity in blindness and also in Catalina's paralyzed condition prompted Wade to do a whole unit in disabilities which included bringing in Harlan and having him take off his prothestic leg. 

Harlan had lost the bottom half of his leg, ending at what would have been just above his knee. 

When word got out about the unit, teachers all over Luna asked all four of the kids including Bova to come to speak to classes and schools after a lot of them realized that it would be a good idea to introduce the kids to diversity of all kinds, not just between species. 

For Harlan that meant spending more time on one leg and Bova able to do less. Bova's left arm was missing just below the shoulder, so he really wasn't able to do much at all. 

All four of them took turns doing the speeches so a school or class never knew exactly who they were getting till pretty much that day. 

Wade was about five months pregnant at this time and just barely showing. 

Quinn and Wade had already formally adopted the four kids from the Christa. It became obvious they needed a third house as it was getting pretty crowded. 

The house was built in two months and soon after Maggie and Rembrandt moved into the new smaller house but still had a few extra bedrooms, in case they got any more unexpected visitors or for when Rembrandt and Maggie had their own children. 

Wade and Catalina started to build a mother/daughter relationship with each other. Catalina meanwhile continued to build her upper-body strength and was now able to lift herself out of her chair. 

Chakotay got the idea in his head to give each kid from the Christa a horse to both ride and take care of. Everyone thought that was a great idea even though both Catalina and Rosie would need help. 

Chakotay ordered a specially equipped saddle for Catalina so she wouldn't fall off when riding.   
It did take some convincing to get the kids to go along with it though. Harlan and Bova both complained that they didn't know how to ride while Catalina and Rosie complained that they just plain couldn't ride. 

Chakotay amended this by explaining that part of the concept was to teach them to ride. He also explained to Catalina that it was possible for her to ride in a modified saddle, and that Rosie could also ride, but on a lead tied to another horse. 

Elizabeth and Phoebe both wanted their own horses, but Tom explained they were a little too young and promised that they could have their own horses when they were older. 

The next day, they all picked out horses. Harlan picked a young bay stallion he named Clark that Chakotay said he could train himself. Bova picked a feisty young black stallion with white stockings that he named Christian (Yes, in case anyone picked up on it, I did name Christian after the Christa). Catalina picked an older tan mare that was more docile than the other two and was probably one of the best candidates for being taught how to be directed without the use of legs named Maeve; Rosie with some help picked a white mare named Gabrielle who was docile enough to be led around instead of just ridden. 

Author's note: The horses names all come from other TV series that aren't going to be added to my Luna series, but that I really enjoy. Try to name the series and if you can't, feel free to email me at smooth@ticon.net 

It only took about a month to train all of the horses with the help of Chakotay and Tom. 

++++++++++ 

Winnie the Pooh doesn't know what to do   
Got a honey jar stuck on his nose   
So he came to me asking help and advice   
And from here no one knows where he goes   
So I sent him to ask of the owl if he's there   
How to loosen a jar from the nose of a bear 

So help me if you can, I've got to get   
Back to the house at Pooh Corner by one   
You'd be surprised, there's so much to be done   
Count all the bees in the hive   
Chase all the clouds from the sky   
Back to the days of Christopher Robin and Pooh   
Back to the ways of Christopher Robin and Pooh   
Back to the ways of Pooh 

The End 

Author's note: Sorry about the abrupt ending but I couldn't think of anything else. For everyone who's reading the whole series I'm adding one more crossover (bringing the total up to four series in all for those interested) and then the climax in maybe one or two parts (haven't gotten that far yet) and then a couple closing parts that I already have a couple ideas for! Hope you enjoyed it!   



	6. Breaking Barriers

Author's note: I'm giving an explanation for all you animorph fans who might read this. I haven't exactly been keeping updated with all the books so I'm setting it sort of back to before Ax joined the group. But I'm basically putting it as they have all the morphed animals that they do in the latest book back. It does make it complicated but I really don't have the time to read all the books I missed before writing this so... 

Also, this is the 5th story in my "Luna" series. 

Disclaimers: Paramount owns Voyager. Universal owns Sliders. Nickelodeon owns Space Cases and K. A. Applegate owns Animorphs. 

Breaking Barriers   
By Sambrea 

Cassie, Marco, Jake, and Rachel were walking down the street with Tobias close enough to hear what they were saying but far enough so he didn't attract attention. 

"We need a vacation guys," Marco said. 

"Yeah, with everything that's been going on lately we need it," Cassie said. 

*Yeah, but we're four kids and a red-tailed hawk. Where would we go? An animal park? Also, watch what your saying, after all you never know who might be around.* Tobias thought-said. 

"Good point. If we didn't have that 2 hour limit on you know what we could experience that for a while." 

*You guys better watch what your saying. You don't know who might hear.* 

"Guys is it just me or is this fog getting thicker?" Rachel asked, stopping. 

*It is a lot thicker Rachel. Even up here.* 

Almost as soon as Tobias said that, they were engulfed in the fog, making it impossible to see anything but each other. 

"This is really strange. Tobias why don't you come down here?" Cassie said, holding up her arm. 

*Thanks, Cas. This is really freaking out the bird in me.* he said as he landed. 

Cassie stroked his feathers as they waited for the fog to clear. 

Ten minutes later it did. 

"Guys where are we?" 

++++++++++ 

Catalina, Wade, Quinn and Rosie were out riding when they came upon the group standing in the middle of the trail. 

"What's going on?" Rosie asked. 

"Well it looks like we've got visitors." 

Quinn dismounted and led his horse forward. "Hello," he said. "Can I help you?" 

The four kids looked at each other quickly before looking back at him. 

Quinn glanced at the one strange thing about the group, the bird perched on one of the girl's arms. 

Whatever it was doing with them it seemed to have an uncanny intelligence about it. 

The small group was talking among themselves, just barely loud enough for Quinn to hear. 

"Where are we guys? This is really strange. We had to be transported somewhere." 

"Don't forget guys. We need to be really careful about what we say to Tobias too." 

"Well at least we got our vacation, wherever we are." 

*Cas, give me a boost. I can tell you what's around. I'll come find you guys later.* 

Author's note: Quinn couldn't actually here Tobias, but I thought it important enough to add. 

Quinn watched as the girl launched what he now realized was a red-tailed hawk. 

Wade had gotten off her horse and was standing next to Quinn. 

"I'm Wade and this is my husband Quinn, Catalina and Rosie." 

"I'm Jake and this is Rachel, Marco and Cassie." 

"Who's Tobias?" 

Jake glanced at his friends. "He's the hawk that came with us." 

"Is he your pet?" 

"Not exactly." 

"Then why is he with you?" 

Jake hesitated, unsure if he should tell the truth. 

"Look no one here will judge you. We all come from different lives here on Luna." 

"Wait a second. Did you say Luna?" Cassie asked. "What's a Luna?" 

"That's where you are. Welcome to Luna, the place to have a home if you don't have a home or can't get home." 

"Yeah nice, Quinn. Completely confuse them." 

"Wait a minute, we're not on Earth?" 

"That seems to be the question almost everyone asks when they get here. No, we are not on Earth." 

"I guess we're getting more of a vacation than we though, Rachel said. 

"Aren't you kids a little young to be needing a vacation?" 

Marco snorted. "With everything we've been through we needed one months ago." 

"Well you might as well come back to the ranch with us. Catalina, why don't you go back to the ranch and tell Kathryn. We'll just walk back. Rosie, it might be easier for you if you go back with Catalina." Quinn said. 

The pair left, and the others started walking back. 

"How did you guys get here?" 

"We don't know. One minute we were walking down the street when the fog became incredibly thick. The next minute we were here," Cassie said. 

"Guys, if this is not Earth could we tell them who we are?" 

Jake just shrugged and turned to Quinn. "Have you guys ever heard of a species called the Yeerks?" 

Quinn shook his head. "No, but we're really not the ones to ask." 

*I don't see any kind of Yeerk-like activity from up here so I think we'd be safe to tell them.* Tobias said, broadcasting to Wade and Quinn also. *I'm going hunting. I'll come find you later.* 

"What the heck was that?" 

"I guess that answered that question, though there are certainly going to be more people who need to know," Rachel said. 

"What are you guys talking about?" Wade asked. 

"I'll demonstrate guys," Cassie said, taking off her shirt. 

"What are you going to do?" Jake asked. 

"Horse," she said, stripping down to her morphing outfit. Can someone hold my clothes for me?" 

Rachel took the clothes and Cassie stepped back a bit. 

Cassie closed her eyes and a second later a horse stood in her place. 

"So you all can do this?" 

*Yep. Tobias used to be able to too, but he stayed in morph too long and now he's stuck in hawk morph.* 

"How are you speaking?" 

*It's called thought-speech. It's the only way to communicate when in morph. It takes a little more effort to speak to the two of you but it's certainly possible.* Cassie said, starting to reverse back to human form. 

"Does it hurt?" 

"If it did I don't think I'd do it," Cassie said, getting her clothes back from Rachel. 

"How did you guys start morphing?" 

"Our Earth is being invaded by a species called the Yeerks. Another species called the Andalites have the power to morph anything they aquire. One of their people crash-landed on Earth and we found him before the Yeerks did. Before he died he warned us of the invasion and gave us the power to morph. 

"The reason almost no one knows of this invasion is that Yeerks are these worm things that crawl into your ear and take over your body. Unfortunately when that happens you don't die, so you are bystander to anything and everything it does," Jake said as they started walking again. 

At that point they reached the outskirts of the ranch. 

++++++++++ 

That evening the animorphs explained who they were, how they had got to Luna, and their war against the Yeerks. 

"Would they come after you?" Kathryn asked. 

"I doubt it. If they were behind this, it's a pretty effective way to get rid of us. Even if they weren't, they have no clue who was attacking them. They thought we were Andalites posing as humans, which of course we aren't." 

*Well, this is definitely not Earth.* Tobias said, landing in a nearby tree. 

"Did you get enough to eat?" Cassie asked. 

*Yeah. You want to introduce me?* 

"Guys meet the fifth member of our group Tobias. Tobias, meet Kathryn, Chakotay, their daughter Phoebe; Tom Be'lanna and their daughter Elizabeth; Quinn and his wife Wade; Maggie and her husband Rembrandt; and Rosie, Catalina, Harlan and Bova." 

Author's note: I realize I didn't have to write all of them out but I wanted to give you a good idea of how many people I was working with! It's not easy doing a series with 4 different groups of people. 

*Nice to meet you all.* Tobias said, bobbing his head. *You sure have some interesting and tasty creatures here.* 

"Nice to meet you Tobias. I'm sorry about your condition." 

Kathryn could have sworn the hawk shrugged before answering. *I've been a hawk for a while now. I'm used to it.* 

"No one should have to get used to being something they aren't. I'm sorry we can't do something for you." 

"Kathryn, what about when me and you were in that transwarp accident? The Doctor was able to change us back into humans then." 

Kathryn thought for a moment before answering. "We could certainly ask him, but don't get your hopes up, I don't know how he turned us back into humans after that." 

"What are you talking about?" 

Kathryn, with the help of the other former Voyager crewmembers told the story of the transwarp experiment gone wrong. 

*So he might be able to reverse the morph?* 

"Yes, but I doubt you'll have your morphing powers back." 

*That's all right. At least I wouldn't be a hawk anymore.* 

They continued to talk through the evening. 

Chapter 2 

The Doctor put down the tricorder and was silent for a moment before answering the question that had been raised to him. 

"I'm truly sorry, but there's nothing I can do for you. I can't find anything of your former self except your brain waves which doesn't do anything for me. The only reason I was able to change Kathryn and Tom back to their former selves before was because I had had records of their DNA on file and that they still held something of their old selves. In your case, I really don't have anything." 

Tobias was silent for a minute, then turned himself around and flew out of the room. 

Cassie opened her mouth and was about to call after him when she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Let him be," Jake said. "He needs time to himself. He'll be back." 

Author's note: It took me a long time to decide what to do with that. In case anyone doesn't know what ep of Voyager it is that has the transwarp experiment I'm talking about it's "Threshold". I can't remember a whole lot about it, but I thought that this was probably the most likely thing that could happen. Boy, I'm putting a lot of Author's notes in this one G> :). 

"Doctor, would it be possible to change us back to human after a too long morph now that you have our DNA on file?" Rachel asked. 

"Yes it would be. Why do you ask?" 

"Just curious. I'm not planning on doing that or anything, but it's just nice to know that's available if something happens." 

++++++++++ 

The animorphs settled down on the ranch. Tobias wasn't heard from for quite a while after that, though some people reported seeing him flying around Luna occasionally. 

++++++++++ 

Two months later, he arrived back on the ranch. He only stayed for a few minutes though, just enough time to say that he was doing all right and that he just needed some time to himself. 

Rachel stood up when he left and started stripping to her mo (morphing outfit-it's easier to shorten it). "I'm going after him. At the very least, I should be able to find out what's going on with him." 

"I'm coming with you," Cassie said, also stripping down. 

Jake and Marco glanced at each other. "I guess we'll come too." 

"Just be careful you don't stay out there too long. You still have that two hour limit on your morphing," Kathryn said. 

"Thanks. We will." Jake said just before closing his eyes for the morph. 

A minute later the four animorphs went after their friend, leaving the rest of the ranch inhabitants to look at each other. 

++++++++++ 

It took them an hour just to find Tobias and another half hour to convince him to talk to them. By that time it was almost nearing the time when they would be unable to demorph so they demorphed and sat under a tree to talk. 

"So, Tobias, how have you been doing?" Jake asked. 

*All right, I suppose. Life here isn't too bad, just different.* 

"Where have you been all this time?" 

*No where in particular. Just around.*   
  
"Why don't you come back to the ranch with us, Tobias. At least there you'll be with friends." Rachel said. 

*I don't know. I'm more comfortable out here by myself really.* 

"Then why come visit us at all?" 

*Because I knew you'd be worried. I kind of figured the least I could do is tell you I'm doing all right.* 

"So your basically going to stay out here? Your not coming back with us?" 

*No.* 

"If you ever need help, feel free to come find us, or go to the ranch. They'll find us for you," Rachel said. 

*Thanks guys, but I should be all right. Anyways I still plan to visit every once in a while. Just don't expect it too much.* 

"All right. Well, we'll go now. Bye," Jake said. He motioned to the others to morph and did the same. A minute later they all flew off, heading back to the ranch. 

*Why did you do that?* Marco asked, being careful not to broadcast. 

*I think that he might follow us back eventually after we basically said goodbye to him for good, though I don't know for sure that he will,* Rachel said. *I take it you caught on to that, Jake.* 

*It wasn't that hard. It only took me a minute.* 

*So what now?* 

*Well now we go back to the ranch and hope he does some thinking.* 

++++++++++ 

Unfortunately, Rachel was wrong. Tobias did not come back to the ranch like she had hoped that evening or the next day. 

"I guess he really is happy out there on his own," she said. 

"Let's just hope he doesn't eventually forget who he is." 

"Is that possible?" Kathryn asked. 

Rachel nodded. "Sure. It's not that difficult if you don't have any contact with other humans I would think. And in Tobias's case it certainly seems likely that might happen at this point." 

"What happens when you morph? I mean how do you meld with the mind of the animal?" Elizabeth asked. 

"Well we don't actually meld with it. We have to almost take it over. Sometimes its not that hard, sometimes it takes a while. It all depends on the type of animal and what circumstances are surrounding our morph," Rachel said. 

"Did you often morph?" 

"Only when we had to. Without knowing who was a controller we basically hid our ability from everyone.   
No one knew we had the ability, not even our closest friends and family," Cassie said. 

"You know, now would be a good time to introduce you guys to your animal guides," Chakotay said. 

"Our what?" 

"Your animal guides. Everyone has one, just not many people know about them. Kathryn would you mind getting my medicine bundle for me?" 

"No problem. I'll get mine too, while I'm at it," Kathryn said, getting up and going inside the house. 

"You know, you never did the same for us before when you mentioned it before," Rembrandt said. 

"Well you haven't really needed it. I think they need the guidance with Tobias. I was planning to introduce you at some point though." 

Kathryn came back outside a minute later and handed Chakotay his medicine bundle. 

"What is that?" Catalina asked. 

"It basically is a bundle made up of things that mean a lot of things to the person who it belongs to. It's purpose is to help you concentrate on the important things in your life. You don't absolutely need one, but it helps, especially when your just starting to contact your guide," Chakotay said. 

"How do we make one?" Rachel asked. 

"I'd be glad to show you later," Kathryn said. "Though without a lot of personal items it's a bit harder." 

"Will I be able to see my animal guide?" Rosie asked. 

"It's very probable you will Rosie. There is no reason you would be blind in the spirit world, since your blindness is a result of an accident," Chakotay said. 

Two hours later they had introduced everyone to their guides. Jake's was a siberian tiger, Rachel's was an African Elephant, Cassie's was a wolf, and Marco's was a gorilla. Quinn's was also a gorilla, Wade's was a quail, Rembrandt's was a sparrow, and Maggie's was a shark. Harlan's was a wolf, Bova's was a rabbit, Rosie's was also a sparrow, and Catalina's was a dolphin. 

The End 

Author's note: Just two parts to go! Yeah!! (J/K) The next part will be the climax (or depending on what I decide to do exactly maybe two parts), then one cleanup part. Any comments are appreciated.   



	7. Charmed for Life Part 1

Author's note: this is the sixth part of my Luna series. Goodness, I just realized I'm adding a third Phoebe to the series. If anyone can't tell one from another, email me and I'll be glad to set it straight for you. 

This happens after the second episode of the third season. 

Charmed for Life   
By Sambrea 

Prologue 

Phoebe walked into the house and set down her bag by the floor. 

"Prue, Piper are you guys home?" 

She got no answer so she went to the kitchen to get a snack only to find a letter on the fridge. 

Dear Phoebe and Prue, 

I have decided after much deliberation to move out. It has nothing to do with the two of you, I just feel that I need some time to decide a few things, mostly what to do now that Leo is gone. 

Please don't come looking for me. 

I love both of you dearly. I may return to the manor someday, but it holds too many memories for me right now. 

Love,   
Piper 

++++++++++ 

Phoebe read through it a second time before setting it on the counter. 

After a moment of thought, Phoebe walked quickly over to the phone and dialed Prue's cell phone number. 

"Come on Prue, answer it," she said impatiently as it wrung a few times. 

It was then that she noticed that the rings were echoing in the basement. 

She hung up the phone and walked downstairs to where Prue had her photo studio. 

She found Prue sitting down there with her head down on the table. 

"Hey," Phoebe said quietly. "I take it you saw Piper's letter?" 

"Yes," Prue said simply, turning away from the door. 

"What do we do?" 

Prue sighed and turned around. "I've been thinking. Piper was right; we should split up. I should leave. You can have the manor," she said decisively. 

"Prue, no. We'll be a lot weaker against demons if we go separate ways." 

"I know, but I'm hoping to have it change if all of us give up magic Phoebe." 

"Prue." 

"Phoebe STOP, ok? Do you know what it's like to lose a loved one to magic, do you? No, how could you? I lost Andy because of a demon and now Piper lost Leo because They didn't want it." 

"And you blame me for it right? Fine. Go. I might not know what it's like right now, but I will when you're gone because I'll have lost two," Phoebe said madly, storming up the stairs. A moment later Prue heard the door slam shut as Phoebe left and sighed with frustration. 

++++++++++ 

Phoebe drove aimlessly around town for an hour before finding herself at the police station. 

She realized her unconsciousness had brought her there so she could talk to someone who would understand. 

She found Darryl at his desk. 

"Hey Darryl, can I talk to you?" she asked the man. 

"Umm, sure Phoebe. Do you want to talk privately? Or can we talk out here?" 

"Privately would be great. Thank you." 

Darryl led the way through a side door and into an interrogation room. 

"I think we'll be fine in here," he said, closing the door behind him and then sat down across the table from Phoebe. "What's on your mind?" 

"Piper and Prue are moving out. More than likely it's for good." 

"Why? I thought you guys were pretty close." 

"We were. At least till last night." 

"What happened?" 

"Piper and Leo were supposed to get married last night." 

"Why wasn't I invited?" Darryl asked, trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't work. 

"It was supposed to be secret. They didn't want Piper and Leo to be together. Somehow though, They found out and did something to Leo right before the ceremony started. We still don't know what They did to him. Piper was devastated and left this afternoon asking us not to look for her. Prue was planning to leave when I stormed out of our house. They think it will stop the attacks… the hurt," she laughed a little at the thought. "I think just the opposite's going to happen," she said, wiping the tear that was threatening to fall away. 

"Can't you do anything to stop them leaving?" 

Phoebe shook her head. "I have no clue where Piper went and Prue blames me for everything that's happened to us. No, there's nothing." 

"Phoebe, you know the police can't protect you." 

"I know. That's not why I came to talk to you. I just wanted a sympathetic ear I guess," Phoebe said with a shrug. "Besides, you have a right to know the change." 

Darryl sighed and put a hand on Phoebe's shoulder. "I'm sorry for your loss Phoebe. If you need any help don't hesitate to call me." 

"Thank you," Phoebe said. 

++++++++++ 

Prue and Piper didn't leave her completely on her own she found out. Piper told her assistant manager at P3 that she would be gone for a while and needed her to take over the management for a while and Prue gave Phoebe access to her bank account so Phoebe could take care of any expenses that came up. 

Chapter 1 

A month later, Phoebe found herself fighting for her life in the attic of the manor. 

She was grasping the only thing she knew that the 20 demons could have come for in her arm: the Book of Shadows, and was trying to keep anything and everything between her and the advancing demons. 

"Give it up witch or we'll kill you," one said with a snarl. 

"I would die before I willingly give up the Book to the likes of you," she had said as she continued backing up until she reached the wall. 

"We've got her now," one said. 

It was then that she did the one thing they, or she, hadn't counted on. She used the one physical power she had at her disposal, levitation, and floated above the crowd of demons, making sure to kick a few heads on the way past them. 

"Hey, that's not fair," one yelled out as she kicked him in the head. 

"Oh shut up. How fair is it to gang up on one person with twenty demons?" she asked rhetorically. 

All her effort to get away didn't help her much though, because as soon as she was down, they were on top of her. 

When they found they couldn't get the book away from her, one of them brought out a very simple solution: a sword. He cut off one of her arm with it, which forced her to drop the book as she lost her grip on the big book. 

Another demon snatched it up immediately as two demons grabbed her shoulders and forced her to the floor. 

"We have what we came for bitch," the one that had mangled her said sardonically. "Now it's time for some fun." 

Chapter 2 

Kathryn poured a cup of coffee and sat down at the kitchen table. Then she realized something hadn't seemed right when she had looked out the window. 

She stood up and went back over. 

"Good God what is that doing here?" she asked. 

++++++++++ 

It was fifteen minutes before Kathryn, Chakotay, Quinn and Wade walked over to the newly arrived house. 

What they found was a disaster. 

The door was missing when they reached the entrance. 

"Wade, go get a medical kit from the house, will you?" Kathryn said as they entered the house, predicting a problem. 

There were bits and pieces of glass covering the floor and all kinds of broken furniture strewn about. 

"Good lord what the hell happened?" Quinn asked. 

They carefully walked into the front room only to find more destruction of nearly everything in the room. 

"I wonder if there's anyone alive here," Chakotay said quietly. 

Quinn bent over to pick up a broken frame that had been thrown to the floor. 

"Well it looks like three people live or lived here," he said, handing a picture of Prue, Piper and Phoebe to Kathryn. 

"Let's split up and search for them," Kathryn suggested, setting the frame gently on a nearby table that had been broken in half. 

"We'll start at the top and work our way down," Quinn said, heading up to stairs he had noticed in the hall followed by Wade, who had run back in, two kits in hand, and handed one to Kathryn. 

"This house must have been beautiful before it was utterly destroyed," Wade said with a shake of her head. 

"Yeah," Quinn agreed. 

They reached the top of the stairs a few seconds later and after a moment's hesitation, walked through the doorway at the top of the second set. 

Wade was the first to notice the soft sound of sobbing coming from one corner and quietly headed there. 

What she found made her gasp and after a moment Quinn echoed the sound. 

"Go get Kathryn," she told Quinn quietly. 

"Right," he said, quietly leaving the attic. 

What she saw not only scared her but stunned her. 

Curled up in a fetal position was a young woman whose arm were missing, lying not far from where she was curled up. 

Wade glanced around quickly, searching for something she could cover the arm up with or set them in. She noticed a trunk sitting under one of the windows. She went over to it and opened the top, looking for a blanket or something. She found a quilt on top and quickly lifted it out. 

She wrapped the arm in it and was about to find someplace out of the way for them when she heard a voice. 

"That's a family heirloom, so do you mind finding something else to wrap them in?" came a frightened voice. 

"Why were you attacked?" 

Phoebe was quiet for a long moment. "I... can't tell you that. It's something to do with my family." 

It was then that Quinn and Kathryn quietly entered the attic. There was a slight hesitation before Kathryn knelt down next to Wade with Quinn right behind her. 

"I'm Kathryn," she said quietly. "Is there anyone else who lives here with you?" 

"I'm Phoebe, and no. My sisters both left a month ago, leaving me alone here. How did you guys get in here?" 

"Your front door was off its hinges. That's how we knew there was something wrong," Wade answered. 

"Can you walk?" Kathryn asked. "I think you should see something before we get any farther." 

"I think so." 

"Come look out the window," Kathryn said. 

Phoebe's eyes widened when she did. 

"Where am I? And what happened to San Francisco?" 

"Well... It's not so much where San Francisco is, but more of where you are. For the most part, I'm just known as Kathryn, but my title for five years was Captain Kathryn Janeway of USS Voyager. You are on Luna, a planet about five years away from Earth. We actually have a lot of what you could call 'misplaced' people here, including Wade and Quinn. 

"To get more specific, you're on the Second Chances ranch. Only six of us here are from this dimension; everyone else is from other places. I've got a question for you. Why aren't you bleeding all over the floor?" 

Phoebe was quiet for a long minute, trying to figure out how to get around telling the three she was a witch. 

"Look, whatever it is, you can't surprise us. Between Quinn and I, we've seen things you can't imagine, and on top of that, we have some strange people living here right now." 

Phoebe sighed. "I... I'm a witch. One of the Charmed Ones." 

"A witch? A real life witch?" Quinn asked. 

"Yes, a real life witch; the kind that has been hunted and ridiculed for years. Complete with powers. 

"I am the youngest of three sisters and all three of us are witches. About a month ago, the middle sister in my family, Piper was supposed to marry our white-lighter Leo. I won't get into details but it went bad to say the least. Piper left the next morning, and Prue, my other sister left that afternoon. I don't have any clue where they went, but leaving only one of us, and on top of that leaving the person who had the least offensive powers of the three of us with not only the manor, but also the Book of Shadows, our spell book. 

"Well last night, it finally happened. About twenty demons stormed in here and attacked me. After one of them cut off my arm, another healed me so that I would know exactly what they were doing to me." 

"How horrible!" Wade commented. 

"Yeah, it was a preverse twist of what our white-lighter has been able to do." 

"What's a white-lighter?" Kathryn asked. 

"They're like guardian angels for witches. We've known ours for three years. Unfortunately, he seems to have completely forgotten me AND the Book of Shadows." 

Just then, there was a twinkling sound and Leo arrived. 

"Great timing Leo. Is there any chance you can arrive ANY LATER?" 

"I'm sorry Phoebe," he said, with a nod to the surprised watchers. "The Book is safely in the hands of another group of witches and the loss of your arm is unfortunate but because demons healed you, I can't do anything for you." 

"Crap." 

"Umm, excuse me for a moment, but who the heck are you?" Wade asked. 

Phoebe sighed. "Leo, meet Kathryn, Quinn, and Wade. Guys, meet my white-lighter Leo." 

"Nice to meet you," Leo said, shaking hands with all three of them. 

"What about my sisters?" 

"Piper and Prue are back on Earth. They are still separated and I haven't spoken to either of them yet, and in fact, I don't think They would like that too much." 

"Why not?" 

"I'm not supposed to speak to either of them. They gave me permission to talk to you because They moved you." 

"How long am I going to be here?" 

"I don't know. Neither do They." 

"Could you go talk to Darryl for me? Explain what happened to me and not to be worried?" 

"Sure. If I get in contact with your sisters, do you want me to give them a note?" 

"That would be wonderful. Just tell them I love them all right?" 

"Of course. I'll come visit you once in a while all right?" he said, giving Phoebe a quick hug. 

"That would be great. Hey, try to convince Prue and Piper to come back to the manor, all right?" 

"I'll talk to them. I can't promise anything though." 

"I know. That's all I ask." 

"I've got to go. It was nice meeting you all," Leo said before orbing out. 

"You seem awfully calm for someone who was just brutally attacked," Kathryn commented. 

"As horrible as this is going to sound to you, it's a hazard of my family's lifestyle. We've all come extremely close to dying. In fact, if it wasn't for Leo she would have been dead, but They cut his wings and he was forced to live with us for a few months." 

"And this is the guy that was your sister's fiancée?" 

"Good guess," Phoebe said, surprised. "And yes, he was, or is, depending on you look at it." 

"I'd like to have one of our doctor's take a look at you, just to make sure you're all right." 

"Umm, sure." 

Chapter 3 

She was back on the ranch early that evening, after being taken to Memory for the Doctor to look at her. 

She had been impregnated the previous night, so she immediately asked for the pregnancy to be aborted and after hearing her reason the Doctor complied; she was also fitted with a prosthetic arm, which took a little bit to get used to, but just soon became like a regular arm. 

"Something I've wanted to ask, but haven't yet, is why didn't you flee the manor once you knew the attack was going to happen?" 

Phoebe snorted. "I never even considered it. One of our major missions as witches is to protect innocents. That means anyone who isn't a witch, a warlock, a demon, a white-lighter or a dark-lighter," Phoebe said as Kathryn took the broom from her and she floated to the floor. 

She followed Kahryn into the kitchen when there was a knock at the door. 

"It's open," Phoebe yelled out. 

"Hey," Wade said. "There's a person to see you Phoebe." 

"Who?" 

"Umm, the person wants you to come see. Out on the porch." 

Phoebe looked confused for a moment, trying to think of who it might be. 

"You want me to tell you who it is?" 

"Umm, sure." 

"Darryl? Does that name ring bell?" 

Phoebe smiled. "Of course it does. He's like the only person that we talk to on a regular basis that knows we're witches. You want to come meet him, Kathryn?" 

"Sure." 

Phoebe led the way out the front door, to where Darryl was sitting on the front porch. 

"Hi Darryl," Phoebe said as she walked out the door. 

"Hey, Phoebe. Leo wasn't kidding when he said you had lost your arm, was he?" 

"Umm, considering I have no clue what he told you, I guess so," she said as he gave her a hug. "This is Kathryn, and I guess you've already met Wade." 

Darryl shook Kathryn's hand and they headed into the living room of the manor. 

"There was quite an uproar when the manor disappeared," he said, taking a newspaper clipping out of his coat pocket. "The tabloids had a field day." 

"I can imagine," Phoebe said, taking the newspaper from him. 

"You've gotten used to losing your arm pretty fast," he commented as Phoebe handed the clipping to Kathryn, who had been looking over her shoulder at it. "Have you heard anything from your sisters?" 

"No, unfortunately. I asked Leo to try and find them for me, but there's no way for me to know if he's had any luck, or even if they want to see me." 

"Why not?" 

"They were trying to cut all ties with not only me and the house, but also each other when they left. It'd be great to see them, but I don't know if I ever will again. How long can you stay?" 

"A couple of hours. My wife thinks I'm at work, and the people at work think I'm at home." 

"What if one of them calls the other?" Phoebe pointed out. 

"Then I'll be in trouble. But I've never been called at home from someone at work, and my wife doesn't tend to call me at work." 

"How do you know Phoebe?" Kathryn asked. 

"That's a little complicated. I'm a detective for the San Francisco police department. My partner was drawn to the Halliwells for their links to a lot of cases. After he died in the manor, I found out that the Halliwells were witches." 

"He's been a great source of information and support ever since." 

"They even saved my life once." 

"Yeah, and if you had listened to Prue in the first place and not gone in that alley, we wouldn't have had to," Phoebe pointed out, rolling her eyes. 

"True," Darryl admitted. 

"Would you like a tour of the ranch Darryl?" Kathryn asked after a moment of silence. 

"Sure." 

++++++++++ 

Darryl spent a couple of hours at the ranch that afternoon, eating dinner with them and meeting everyone who lived there, including all the non-humans that lived there, which Darryl surprisingly taking it all in stride. 

At one point, Chakotay commented on that. 

"Since I've been working with the Halliwells, I've found that not a whole lot takes me by surprise anymore, even having dinner with aliens," he said with a laugh. 

"I'm not even going to ask what you've seen that would get you that way," Be'lanna said. 

By the time Leo arrived to pick him up, things had settled down enough that everyone was out on the porch of the main house when he orbed in. 

"Hey Leo," Phoebe said when he arrived. "Come on over for a moment will you?" 

Leo looked a little confused but complied. 

"What's up?" he asked. 

"I just wanted to introduce you to everyone and ask you about my sisters." 

She quickly introduced him to the rest of the people he hadn't met on his last, short visit. 

"Well, as to your sisters, I haven't had any luck finding them yet. I was hoping that hearing about what happened to the manor would bring them out of hiding, but no such luck and I'm not the only person who wants to find them. They told me that if I am able to find them and convince them to join you on Luna, they want to give you guys the book back. But that will only work if I can find both Prue and Piper AND convince them to reunite with you, and that might take quite a while. I'll keep looking though." 

"Thanks anyways."   
  
  



	8. Charmed for Life Part 2

Chapter 4 

It was early one morning when Phoebe was drinking a cup of coffee in the kitchen of the manor with one foot holding it, and reading a copy of the paper she had used the replicator to get, the date it would have been in her time and the one she had sometimes read when she had had the time: The San Francisco Post when the doorbell wrang. 

Author's note: I just made the name up. I have no clue if there is such a thing as the San Francisco post. 

"Door's open," she called out. 

A moment later, the doorbell rang again. 

"Can't a person open his own door?" Phoebe muttered as she put down the cup of coffee and went into the front hallway. "It's not like I lock that thing." 

She opened the door and came face to face with Piper just as she was about to say something bad. 

"Piper?!" she yelled, just before Piper enveloped her in a hug. 

Piper just held her for a moment before letting go. 

"It's so good to see you," she said. 

"Yeah, you too," Phoebe said. "I take it Leo finally found you." 

"Actually, it was Darryl. I guess they've been working together to find us and Darryl finally got a hold of me and told me what happened." 

"Where were you living?" 

"In all reality I never left San Francisco. I was staying in a hotel when Darryl found me." 

"Any clue about Prue?" 

"I'm really sorry but no. I was pretty surprised to hear that she had also left." 

"Are you here for only a visit or for good?" 

"For good," Piper answered, putting her duffel bag on the floor of the front hall and following Phoebe into the kitchen. 

"You want a cup of coffee?" 

"Sure." 

Phoebe put it together quickly, handed it to Piper, took her own from the counter, and they sat down. 

"How did everyone here deal with the fact that you're a witch?" 

"Surprisingly well. No one minds here. There are others with strange powers here other than just me. Four kids here can change into animals when they want to. Four people came here by sliding from Earth to Earth. Being a witch isn't all that surprising; I guess would be a good word. I take it Leo gave you a lift out here." 

"Yeah, I was really happy to see him, but he couldn't stay. They wouldn't allow him." 

There was a knock at the door then. 

"It's open," Phoebe called out. 

"Morning," Wade said, walking into the kitchen and stopped when she saw Piper. 

"Okay, you get too many visitors," she said as she sat down across from them. 

"Wade, meet my sister Piper, Piper meet Wade." 

"Nice to meet you," Piper said, shaking Wade's hand. 

"Same here. Are you here for a visit?" 

"Uh no. I was thinking of moving back to the manor, no matter its new setting." 

"Why?" 

"Well, I've had a lot of time to think over the last couple of months and even before Darryl found me. And after I heard about the manor I had even considered trying to get a hold of Leo or Darryl. But before I could decide to do so, Darryl contacted me." 

"Let me go let Kathryn know that you arrived," Wade said, standing up. "I'll be back in a couple of minutes." 

"Did Darryl or Leo tell you about the Book?" Phoebe asked when Wade had left. 

"A little. Darryl said it had been taken." 

"Yeah, it was, but there is more to it than that. Leo told me that it had been recovered and if he or Darryl can find Prue, they're going to give it back to us." 

"That would be nice. How many people live here?" 

"Uhh, twenty." 

"Twenty?!" 

Phoebe laughed at the look on Piper's face. "It's not as bad as it sounds. I'm still the only one living in the manor, and everyone else is spread out among three houses. Everyone gets along with everyone else and helps out as much as they can." 

"Including you?" 

"Sure. I can do a lot more than you might think, I get some help around the house a couple days a week to do chores, help feed the horses, and eat dinner with everyone every night. Thankfully, the only thing I have to cook is a pot of coffee every morning for myself, otherwise I think that would change," Phoebe said with a smile. 

Piper snorted. "Yeah, no kidding. I've seen you cook." 

Phoebe stuck her tongue out at Piper, and Piper did the same. 

"So what are you reading?" 

"Today's paper," Phoebe said, sliding over what she hadn't been reading. 

They were silent for another couple of minutes before there was a knock at the front door. 

"It's open," Phoebe called out. 

"Morning," Kathryn said, walking into the kitchen. "Wade told me you had a visitor." 

"I'm Piper Halliwell. Nice to meet you," Piper said, shaking Kathryn's hand. 

"Kathryn Janeway. You must be one of Phoebe's sisters." 

"Right. I'm the middle sister." 

"Nice to finally meet you. Are you just visiting, or are you here for good?" 

"If you don't mind, I'm here for good." 

"I don't mind at all. We always welcome people to the ranch. Especially if they have ties to other people or are family of other people. Has Phoebe told you anything about how we live here, or how we got here?" 

"Not a lot. Of course, I just got here." 

"Did you want to get settled in first or would you like a tour of the ranch?" 

"I think I'd rather get all my stuff into my room and see how much damage Phoebe did to it before I take a tour of the ranch." 

"If you guys want to, come find me when you're done," Kathryn said before leaving the manor. 

"She likes to boss people around doesn't she," Piper nodded when Kathryn was gone. 

"She's not as bad as she might seem," Phoebe said. "She used to be the captain of the starship that founded this colony." 

"Starship?" Piper asked as she picked up her bag from the hallway and went up the stairs. 

"Um, maybe Kathryn ought to tell you about that. She along with her husband Chakotay used to command the Starship Voyager before they were forced to land here. They, along with another couple, run this ranch, which they eventually named Second Beginnings Ranch because so many of the people who live here aren't from this timeline or from this reality. Oh, and don't be surprised to see a few people who don't look human. They probably aren't." 

"Why not?" 

"Because there are aliens living here. They're not in the majority but they are living here on the ranch." 

"Okay, that's going to take some getting used to," Piper admitted as they entered her room. 

"I tried to recreate it as best I could after it was destroyed in the fight with the demons. You do know what happened, I hope." 

"Pretty much. Darryl gave me the gist, and Leo filled in the rest," Piper said as she set down the bag on the bed. "You did pretty well actually. I can't think of anything that isn't here." 

"I had a lot of help. There are people who make furniture here on Luna and were able to repair the damage done to a lot of the pieces and everything else that they weren't able to repair, they were able to reproduce." 

"That's great. What about all the clothes I left here?" 

"Well, considering I had put all of it into the attic, except for the ones I wanted for myself, there wasn't any damage done to them." 

"Why did you put them in storage?" 

"I didn't know if you'd ever come back to the manor, and if you didn't, they would get all dusty and stuff so I figured it'd be better to stick them into a box and put them in the attic. After the attack, I asked Kathryn to help me bring them down and put them back in their rightful spots once I found out that Leo was looking for you. I figured that at least that would make it feel like home again. It sort of worked, but not completely. I still was missing my sisters to make it fully feel like home again." 

"Well, at least now it can partially feel like home, even if Prue isn't here," Piper said, sitting down next to Phoebe and putting an arm around her shoulders. 

"I am so glad you are here," Phoebe said, leaning her head on Piper's shoulder. 

"So am I. I feel so bad about deserting you and Prue, though what Prue did is almost worst because she is the one who really deserted. She didn't have to leave, while on the other hand, I felt like I did. What exactly happened to you? Leo wouldn't go into details and Darryl didn't really know." 

"Well, about a month ago, during that really stormy night, I suddenly had this premonition of the house being wrecked. 

"For obvious reasons I couldn't flee the house, though everyone has asked me why I didn't. I went to the attic to wait with a couple of candles and flashlights in case the lights went out. 

"A couple of hours later, exactly that happened. I was searching through the book for a spell that might give me an edge in the fight when the lights went out. 

"I lit the candles and turned on a flashlight just before the fight started. I could hear them kick down the door downstairs and start smashing things so I quickly blew out the candles so they wouldn't be knocked over in the fight and start a fire, turned on the rest of the flashlights I had brought with me and secured them around the room so that it was well lit and locked the attic door from the inside to give me more time. 

"I had found luck in one spell that gave a person the ability to see in the dark and only required a chant and not any supplies which I was glad for. 

"I quickly invoked it and shut off all the flashlights. A minute later, the whole lot of demons stormed the attic. 

"One found one of the flashlights and turned it on and that's when the battle began. 

"Unfortunately, it didn't last long. I levitated over them once, kicked a few heads on the way, and they were all over me. 

"I had no interest in giving them the Book so they cut off my arm. Before I could faint from the pain one of them healed me so that I would be completely awake for what was to come. 

"I almost fainted with what came next. One by one, each of them took their turn with me while two others held me down." 

"Oh Pheebs," Piper said, hugging her tighter. "I'm so sorry. If I had known…" 

"Piper, don't start second guessing that decision. That's why they say hindsight is 20/20 which is completely true. I don't blame you for leaving. I don't even blame Prue for leaving. It was something the two of you had to do. Now, whether it was the right thing to do or not we could debate for the next year. Not only is that not the way I would like to spend my time, but I'm sure the people here on the ranch wouldn't appreciate it." 

"Wow. I was sure you would be madder than this. Especially after your reaction when I was gone with Leo for a month. 

"That was quite a bit different. For one thing, you had no idea how long you were gone then. You decided you needed to leave the manor and I respect that. It isn't your fault I was attacked; it was just a minor thing none of us considered at the time." 

"Minor? I don't consider being attacked, losing your arm, and being raped minor. Quite the opposite in fact." 

"I've come to terms with what happened Piper. I don't… like it any more than you do, but it is the way it is and there is nothing ü—]äG^ 


	9. California Dreamin' Part 1

Prologue

Buffy couldn't believe it, she wasn't dead.  Sure, she was sore as hell, but that was nothing to what she had been expecting.

She could feel someone hovering near her and willed her eyes open.  What she found surprised her, sheer darkness.

"Um, hello?" Buffy said as loudly as she could, which wasn't very since her throat was extremely dry.

The woman must have heard though.

"Oh wow, you're awake," she said, as Buffy felt her coming nearer.  "Do you need anything?  How are you feeling?"

"Water," Buffy choked out. 

"Oh of course, I promise, I'll be right back."

Buffy heard the woman walk quickly out of the room and she tried to sit up but found her strength sapped to nearly the point that it was nonexistent.

A few seconds later a different set of footsteps reached her and gently put a cup in her hands and helped her drink.

"I'm Kathryn," a voice that sounded almost grandmotherly said.

"Buffy," she got out as Kathryn put her head back down.  "Who…"

"Oh, the other girl is Rachel, she volunteered to stay in your room just in case you woke up."

"Just in case?"

"We had a bad scare with you.  You went into cardiac arrest when you arrived and we barely were able to save you."

"Should have died," Buffy disagreed.

"Why?"

"Jumped off tower and went through rift with lots of electricity to save my sister.  They'll think I'm dead.  Where am I?"  
  


"Let's leave that till later," Kathryn said with a sigh.  "Don't worry though, you're safe and we'll take care of you, help you get better.  Is there anything else you need?"  
  


Buffy shook her head as she felt sleep overcome her.

++++++++++++

The next couple of days were the same way, Buffy would wake up, either by herself or with a little prodding from someone and eat, drink and/or use the bathroom.

At the end of the week, she had enough strength back that she could sit up in bed and carry on a long conversation so several women joined her in the room to discuss where she had come from and where she was.

"Well, you already know I'm Kathryn, but I'm going to have each person introduce themselves so that you know how to recognize their voices."

Rosie, Rachel, B'elanna, Wade, and Dianne proceeded to introduce themselves.

"I guess not.  I'm Buffy Summers, though I think you guys already knew that.  Where I come from I'm the Slayer, the Vampire Slayer, there's one in every generation, blah blah blah.  Anyways, basically our job is to fight evil for however long our life is, which generally isn't very, in fact I broke the record and I've been the Slayer for five years.  Anyways, there's something called a key, which will open up all the walls between the dimensions, horrible thing.  A group of monks turned it into a girl and made her my sister, complete with fake memories and the whole shebang.  We only found out she was the key six months ago.  

"To make a long story short, Glory, a goddess, was searching for her so that she could use Dawn to return to her own dimension.  She got a hold of her but in order for the portal to open the key has to bleed.  Well, the only way to close the portal is with all the key's blood, or basically to be killed.  I didn't want her to die so I jumped in.  I thought it was for the best, you know.  She had her whole life ahead of her, while I'd probably die within the next few years.  Well, at least she's not alone."

"Wow," Phoebe commented quietly.  "That's an amazing story, even for here."

Buffy smiled shyly.  "Where am I?"

"Well, that's sort of complicated.  We call this place Luna, but that's only the very tip of the iceberg.  We don't know why but it seems to be almost a magnet for those why are accidentally, or in one case, intentionally traveling between dimensions.  We welcome everyone though, no matter if they're here for a year or a lifetime."

"Why?"

"All of those who live here have had to sacrifice something in order to stay here.  For me, it was the chance to ever go home again.  But, I have a wonderful husband and daughter, and an incredible extended family that I wouldn't give up for anything."

"How long have you lived here?" Buffy asked.

"It's close to ten years," Kathryn admitted.

"What did you mean when you said that everyone sacrificed something to stay here?"  
  


"Mostly the chance to go home or return to their own dimensions.  We just don't have the tools to send everyone home.  I really wish we did.  We've only ever had one group return home and that wasn't even really great, because it was seventeen children, and their parents took their place."

"Oh wow," Buffy said, thinking about that.  "What do you mean by group?"  
  


"Well, even though we really are one big family, we all arrived in our own groups.  I'm part of the first group to arrive and colonize Luna, Wade was in the third, Rosie's in the fourth, Rachel's in the fifth and next to last group, before Dianne and her family.  They're a wonderful group of people who are all extremely reclusive, but that more has to do with their way of life than anything else.  The second live in their own areas and hardly ever associate with us, so it is unlikely that you will ever run into them.

"My full, but mostly unused, title is Captain Kathryn Janeway, former Captain of the Star Ship Voyager."

"Mostly unused?  And for that matter Starship?"  
  


Kathryn smiled.  "We live in the 24th century.  Unfortunately, we seem to be the only ones here coming from that era…"

Rosie cleared her throat.

"Except for Rosie's group, who seems to have their own way of keeping the years," Kathryn acknowledged.  "Everyone else seems to be from the twentieth century though."

Author's note: I don't really know about the date, so don't send me emails about this, please.

"It's now the twenty-first century for me now, but just barely," Buffy commented.

"Oh.  Anyways, I led a ship of over one hundred and fifty people through a sector of unknown space for five years before it started breaking down and we were forced to settle here ten years ago.  The man who was my second in command became my husband, and our Chief of Engineering and main pilot got married and joined us here in beginning the ranch here."  
  


"Wow.  I'm still confused though.  We're not on Earth?"

"No, unfortunately.  We're about ten years away from our version of Earth."

"How do you know about Earth then?"

"I'm from Indiana originally," Kathryn admitted with a grin.

"Wow.  How weird."

"It might seem so.  You haven't been blind all your life have you?"

"God, no.  It's kind of hard to be the slayer when you're blind.  Though I can still sense people, it's hardly the same.  There isn't anything you can do for it, is there," she said as less of a question and more of a statement.

"The Doctor wants to try and replace the nerves.  Unfortunately, there's no guarantee that will work, we can only hope."

"What will happen to me now?"

"Well, that's up to you.  We have lots of things you can do here even without sight but there are other places you can go."

"I…I might stay here.  I never did know what I was going to do with my life," Buffy admitted with a grin.  "Besides, it'll probably be easier to learn my way around just one place instead of learning one place and then moving to another and having to learn that one too."

"That's not a bad point," Catalina admitted.  "I'm actually blind too and part of the reason I stayed here was the same as yours, so that I wouldn't have to learn someplace new."

"Can you give me some idea of what happened to my eyes at least?"

"The nerves all got burned out when you fell through that electrical storm.  Don't worry though, I'm sure it won't be too hard for you to get used to it."

"I…I'm not worried about that.  I'm just thinking about how this changes everything for me."

"What do you mean?"

"There's never been a blind Slayer.  It's unheard of.  On top of which for the last five years I've been almost completely a warrior.  I always wanted to take a vacation, but this isn't exactly what I had in mind," she added with a grin.

"Somehow, it never is," Kathryn said.

"What did you want to do?" Rosie asked.

"I don't know, go to the beach for a week or something, but there was always this new big bad or the world needed to be saved again and never could for more than an afternoon."  
  


"Well, that sucks," Rachel said, making Buffy raise her eyebrows.  "Well, it does.  Here she is, a warrior for five years without a decent break, stuck on a world with strangers, blinded as she arrives… the list goes on and on."

"It gets worse.  I have a younger sister, Dawn.  A couple months ago, our mother died.  Which…which wouldn't be so bad if I was there, or if I had left them something to bury, but no, now Dawn's by herself."

"Completely alone?  What about your father?"  
  


Buffy snorted.  "He's been out of our lives for years now.  My parents got a divorce when we were young.  He's deadbeat too, never comes to see us, didn't even come to my mother's funeral, so I really doubt he'll want anything to do with Dawn.

"I do have some close friends, but one of them I have no doubt returned to London when I died.  Willow and Tara will no doubt take care of Dawn though.  Willow and I have always been really close friends."

"Well, that's better than being put in a foster home or something," Rachel said softly.

"Yeah, I guess so," Buffy said with a sigh.  "I still wish I was there for her though."

"What about the slaying?"

"Well, since I did die, another Slayer will be called no doubt, so I think they'll be left alone, I hope."  
  


++++++++++

Buffy spent the next week getting used to finding her way around the house first with the help of one of those canes she remembered seeing on Earth, but she had hers done in blue and white instead of the traditional red and white, and then around the ranch as Kathryn, Wade, and Rachel helped her find her way around at first and then as she started doing some exploring on her own.

It was a couple weeks later that she climbed a hill off to the side of the hill and literally ran into the small cemetery that she had been told about but hadn't actually found it until that point.

Using her fingers to trace the letters, she was amazed to find out how loving the epitaphs were despite what she had heard about those buried there.

It was there she found herself spending her afternoons from then on, somehow drawn to the place as she was, at first to just sit in the sun and then as she found the joy of books on tape and CD and spent some of her free time listening to them and found several authors she would never had had the time to read back in Sunnydale.

Chapter 1

A year after arriving on Luna, Buffy was thrilled when another group arrived.

It had been a rather stormy night, forcing everyone indoors and away from the usual bonfire.

Buffy thought it was just before dawn when something compelled her to leave her bed.

Grabbing her shoes and her cane, she made her way down the stairs and outside as she let her instincts guide her, hearing thunder still off in the distance, the ground smushing under her feet.

After a minute of walking, her cane hit something soft and she heard a distinct "ouch" from the object.

Knwoing it wasn't likely that someone would be awake and lying down outside at the hour, Buffy took a small step forward and knelt down next to the person.

"Umm, hello?" she said tentatively.

"Someone's there?" a familiar voice said, making Buffy's heart jump in her throat.

"D..Dawn?"  Buffy said carefully.

"How do you know my name?" Dawn asked, obviously unable to see her sister.

Buffy swore silently to herself for having not thought to bring a flashlight or anything similar with.

"Do you mind waiting a minute?  I'll grab a light for you," Buffy said quietly.

"Umm, yeah, ok," Dawn said, obviously confused.

Buffy left her cane near Dawn, knowing it would do her no good to carry it as she ran back to the house knowing exactly where she would find a flashlight, despite never having the need for one.

She stood in the hall for a minute, considering waking up Kathryn and finally realizing it was probably the right thing to do, despite wanting to get back to Dawn right away.

She walked over to where Kathryn and Chakotay's bedroom and knocked on the door, knowing that they slept lightly.

"What is it?" Kathryn said with a sleepy groan.

Buffy opened the door gently.  "Umm, a new group just arrived," she said softly.

"What?!" Kathryn said obviously waking up at that.  "When?"  
  


"Umm, I don't know actually, can't be too long," Buffy said.  "There's something else, I don't know how, but it's my friends, or at the very least, my sister," she added, her voice getting quieter with each word.  "I just had a feeling that I was needed out there."

"That's all right Buffy," Chakotay said gently as she heard the two of them getting out of bed.  "It's almost time to get up anyways."  
  


Buffy nodded.  "I'm going back out there, Dawn's awake, and she didn't know it was me, hence the flashlight," she explained, waving the flashlight.

"Do you want me to go with you?"  Kathryn asked.

"I think it might help.  I don't even know how many are out there," Buffy admitted.

"Can you estimate?"

"Umm, if it's just my old family it could be anywhere from three: Dawn, Xander and Willow to 7 adding Spike, Giles, Anya and Tara.  There's also a small possibility that the guys from LA somehow got mixed up and that would add four more."

"Ok.  Chakotay, do you mind taking care of waking people up?"

"Of course not," Chakotay said gently.

"Here, let me have the flashlight, I'll need it, the sun's only just starting to rise."

Buffy nodded and held the flashlight out for Kathryn to take.

"Let's get going then.  I'll follow you."

Buffy led Kathryn out near the barn where she kneeled back down next to Dawn as Kathryn shined the flashlight around.

"Can you bring the flashlight back here Kathryn?" Buffy asked.

Kathryn did and kneeled down on the other side of Dawn.  "Hi, I'm Kathryn," she said, shining the flashlight in such a way that it illuminated all three of their faces.

"I'm Dawn," she said before she shrieked as she looked at her sister's face, wrapped Buffy in a hug and knocked them both over onto the ground.

Buffy could hear Kathryn laughing softly behind them as Dawn's body shook with sobs.

"Hey, come on, what's with the tears?"  Buffy asked quietly, jokingly.

"You're alive.  I can't believe it, you're alive," Dawn repeated, unwilling to let Buffy out of the bone-jarringly tight hug.

Buffy giggled.  "I wish I could see you Dawn," she said with a sigh.

"What the heck do you mean?  A…Are you blind?"

"Have been since I traveled through that damn electrical field," Buffy admitted as Dawn sat back up.

"God Buffy, I'm so sorry," Dawn said softly, still holding Buffy's hands tightly.

"I'm the one who's sorry Dawn.  I left you guys with no real defense against the dark side of Sunnydale.

"We actually have gotten along all right," Dawn said softly.  "A new slayer was called and has been working with us."

"How many have come with you?" Kathryn interrupted gently.

"Umm, let's see, me, Xander, Willow, Anya, Angel, Cordelia, Gunn, Wesley, and Fred.  That makes nine."

"Wesley?  As in Wesley Wyndam Price?  That Wesley?"  
  


"He's actually changed a lot, Buffy.  He's not nearly as wimpy as he used to be.  In fact, he's Fred's Watcher."

"Wait, Slayer's can only be women."

"It's short for Winifred Buffy."  
  


"Oh."

"She's actually got a pretty interesting story.  She was called only days after Angel and his gang rescued her from slavery in another dimension."

"Weird."

"She's really nice though.  So where are we?"  
  


"Please, don't," Kathryn said with a groan.  "Not yet at least.  There's so much we have to do."

"What do you mean?"

"She means that it's an incredibly complicated story that we don't really have the time for right now," Buffy explained. "I promise we'll explain though."

"Oh okay."

"Do you mind getting a bonfire going Buffy?  It'll help us a lot," Kathryn suggested.

"Of course not," Buffy said, standing up and giving Dawn a hand at the same time.

"Where are we going?" Dawn asked, obviously confused.

"Not far," Buffy promised, leading her to one of the logs and helping her to sit down before moving over to the box that held the flint and tinder to light the fire pit which was filled nearly every morning with fresh firewood.

It took a couple tries for her to get the fire going due to the semi-wet condition.  A minute later, she sat back down next to Dawn.

"I was wondering something.  You didn't mention Giles when you listed off who came with you."

"He returned to England a couple weeks after you died Buffy," Dawn admitted with a sigh, taking her sister's hand again.  "How did you manage lighting the fire like that?"

Buffy grinned.  "Lots of practice, believe me.  It took me six months to get to this point."

"Wow."

"So what happened.  How did you get here?"  
  


"It was weird.  Wesley called us yesterday saying they needed our help because Angel's son stuck him down at the bottom of the ocean.  Don't ask.  Ask Angel, it's a really weird story," she said quickly before Buffy could ask about Angel having a son.  "Anyways, we get there and pull him out of the ocean, but that isn't the end of it, because when we go to open the box he was stuck in, a bright light surrounded all of us and I found myself lying on the ground in pure darkness.  Then you arrived."

Buffy nodded.  "It's so weird you know?  I never thought I would get to be able to talk to you guys again.  I wish Giles was here too," she said with a sigh.

"Yeah, I know, we didn't want him to leave but we understood it, you know?  He needed a life of his own without four teenagers around," Dawn said with a laugh.

"Yeah, he deserved that," Buffy agreed with a sigh.

"It doesn't help the fact that he's not here though, does it," Dawn said with a sigh.

"Hey, when did you get so wise?"  
  


Dawn was silent for a few seconds.  "Do you really want me to answer that?" she finally said sadly.

"No," Buffy admitted gently.  "I'm sorry I asked, I meant it to be a joke."

"I know Buffy, but…  That's just a sore spot for me."

Buffy nodded her understanding.  "I'm so sorry you had to go through that, Dawn.  You didn't even have a body to bury."

"All we could do was report you as missing.  That caused some problems with the state since you were my legal guardian, but Giles stepped in and helped Tara and Willow become my legal guardians so I wouldn't go into foster care or any such mess."

"That was another thing I was meaning to ask you.  You didn't mention Tara either."

"She…She was killed a week ago in a car accident Buffy.  Willow was devastated, they were so close.  We buried Tara just a couple days ago.  I think having you around will help a lot though.  You guys have always been close."

"Yeah, but that's pretty awful," Buffy said softly, already mourning her friend.

"Xander's been helping a lot, so has Anya, but it's just not the same you know?"  
  


"I know exactly what you mean."

"Just get over here Xander," Dawn said a second later, obviously flustered.

"B…Buffy?" Xander said as Buffy stood up and heard Dawn do the same next to her.  
  


"Hey," Buffy said softly as Xander ran up and threw his arms around her neck, holding on tight and unwilling to let go, even with she giggled.  "I can't believe you're alive," he added when he finally let her go.

"I get the feeling I'm going to be getting that a lot in the next couple of hours," Buffy said with a grin she couldn't keep off her face.

"Wh..what's wrong?  Something is different with you."

Buffy let her head drop.  "I was blinded when I fell into that electrical storm or whatever it was," she admitted softly.  "My eyes were a mess of black and the nerves were all shot to hell too, but despite replacing both eyes and all the nerves, my eyesight still hasn't returned."

"That's awful, why didn't you tell me?" Dawn asked.

Buffy blushed.  "I don't know I sort of want to save you that detail."

"Do you trust these people?  I mean, they could have lied to you…"

"No, I don't think so.  The family here on the ranch is over twenty members strong, more like thirty.  Talk to any one of them and you'll realize that all of them are in a similar situation here: unable or unwilling to return home and absolutely welcomed by those who established this place.  As is oft said, there's a reason we live on Second Beginnings Ranch," Buffy said with a bit of a grin.

"Oft?  You said oft?" Dawn said, teasing her sister, who was still blushing.

"At the very least, it's been a vacation for me, no vampires, no demons, not even any crime."

"So it's a Utopia?" Xander suggested.

"Unfortunately, no," Buffy said with a shake of her head.  "Like I said, everyone's been displaced in one way or another and a lot have been separated from family members.  One group lost three of their members en route, another was at war with invading aliens in theirs,another lost their wold to a group of semi-human invaders/slavers, so they all differ in stories, but none  of them are happy, not totally at least."

"That's pretty horrible," Xander agreed.

"What's the worst?  Yours?" Dawn asked.

"It ranks up there certainly," Buffy agreed.  "But I think the Bates family is worse off."

"Really?  How?"

"Well, their family is nineteen members strong thanks to some major adoptions over a couple years.

"Fifteen of the children in the family aren't human, though they're pretty close though.

"Jason and Brett the two human children, located Neri living by herself on an island off the coast of Australia several years ago.  That's where the core family's from originally, Australia. Anyways, after a couple of years, they found out Nerihad a younder sister which set off the search for the other thirteen kids, all of whom they were eventually able to locate.

"A few years after that they ended up here for a year after a spaceship malfunctioned. The major problem was that Dianne and Winston, the mother and father, didn't travel with them.  They arrived here when the others left."

"Buffy?" a new voice called hesitantly.

"Willow?  Hey," Buffy said, turning and letting her friend embrace her tightly.

Willow pulled away, obviously looking Buffy over, before slapping Buffy across the cheek.

"Why didn't you let us know you were alive?" she asked, noticeably mad.

Buffy pulled away,unsure how to even anwer that, and just ran, hearing several people call for her to return.

A few minutes later she found herself in front of the barn, and slipping through the door, hurried to the hayloft's farthest, darkest corner.

She sat down with a sob, wrapping her arms around her knees and resting her head on them.

++++++++++

Everyone turned on Willow as Buffy ran off, glaring at her.

"What?  You had to be thinking the same thing," Willow said.

"You idiot," Xander said, slapping her arm.  "Did you even think about what she might have been going through this past year?"  
  
Willow thought about that for a second and then hung her head.  "You know how I feel about her, Xander," she said softly.  "I just lost Tara and it was hard enough that I lost her too."

"You think I don't feel the same way Willow?" Dawn hissed, mad as heck.  "I didn't hit her though.  I found out what the heck had happened to her."  
  


"No, that was stupid," Willow agreed.  "I'm sorry."

"We're not the ones you have to apologize to," Xander pointed out.

"Come on, we better go find her," a voice said behind Willow.

"Who are you?" Willow asked the older woman.

"You can call me Kathryn.  We've become friends since she's been here and I know where she's most likely to hide out."

Willow reluctantly followed Kathryn away from the rest of her family, though knowing that it was something she was going to have to face with Buffy.

"I'm going up to the loft to see if she's there.  Stay on the ground, all right?" Kathryn said when they reached the barn door.

Willow nodded before Kathryn opened the door slightly and they slipped in.

++++++++++

Footsteps ascended the ladder, and Buffy felt Kathryn sit down next to her, though she stayed silent.

"Willow was at my side for all five years I was Sunnydale," she finally choked out. "We ere so incredibly close I love her and not just like a sister either," she managed to admit, mostly to herself more than anything else.  But between Oz and then Tara, and Angel and Riley, and now this, I don't think she feels the same way."

"Buffy have you ever told her this?" Kathryn asked gently.

"How could I?  She and Oz were together for so long and then when they broke up I was with Riley and she and Tara got together so quickly I never really had a chance to even try," Buffy admitted with a shake of her head.

"You have a chance now. There must have been a lot of conflicting emotions inside her head; confusion, amazement, anger, love…"

"But why did she hit me?"

"Because I didn't understand what was going on," Willow said as she climbed the last couple or rungs of the ladder to the hayloft.

"How much did you hear?"

"All of it," Willow admitted.  "Kathryn brought me with.  Do you mind?"

"No, not really," Buffy said, shaking her head and blushing.  "It saves me from having to repeat it."

"I love you too Buffy," Willow admitted softly, cupping her friend's cheek.  "I have been for years, but like you said with Angel and then Riley I never realized you felt that way about."

"It took me a long time to admit to myself that I was in love with my best friend," Buffy agreed, hearing Kathryn backing down the ladder to give the pair some privacy.

"What happened to you?" Willow asked softly.

"I ended up here, instead of heaven or whatever.  It's not a bad place by any stretch of the imagination, just sad.

"I was blinded when I fell into that field, and I also died.  They were able to revive me with CPR, thankfully, and have replaced my eyes and the nerves behind them, both of which were black holes from what I've been told, but it didn't work, I haven't gotten my sight back.  I can't even see a finger in front of my face, let alone you or anyone else."

Willow grabbed her hand.  "Hey that's nothing.  You're alive, we're here, all back together, that's what matters, not that you can't see us," she assured Buffy.

"Really?" Buffy asked, unsure.

"Buffy, you have no idea how incredibly thrilled everyone is to see you.

"When I saw you sitting next to Dawn and Xander, I couldn't believe it.  It's awesome and I'm sorry I hit you.  I got a really good talking to from both Dawn and Xander," she said with a laugh.

"I know Will.  I guess that was just the last thing I expected."

"So now what?"  
  


"We return to everyone else?" Buffy suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Willow said as Buffy stood up and helped Willow to her feet.

"Haven't lost much of that slayer strength have you?" she teased.

"I've gained a lot of it back," Buffy agreed.  "Do you trust me?"

"Of course, but Whhh…" Willow trailed off as Buffy picked her up and walked off the edge of the hayloft, landed gracefully on the lower level, and put Willow back on her feet.

Willow slapped her shoulder lightly.  "Why the hell did you do that?"

"Because I can, and do regularly," Buffy said with a grin.  "Besides it's a lot faster than going down the ladder, at least for me.  I have to find it first."

"Please tell me you at least use the ladder to go up," Willow asked.

"Of course.  I don't even attempt that," Buffy said as she led Willow out of the barn, unwilling to let go of each other's hand.

"So what should we do now that we know we love each other?"  
  


"I understand if you want t take it slow Will, I mean you just lost Tara…" Buffy said quietly breaking off as Willow kissed her solidly on the mouth.

"Oh wow," Willow said, her mind reeling from the fireworks going off in her head, as she rested her forehead against Buffy's gently.

"Oh god, that was incredible," Buffy agreed.  'I guess that was a no, right?" she added breathessly.

Willow giggled.  "Definitely.  We better get back to the others now," she said reluctantly.

"Yeah, come on," Buffy said reluctantly, still holding onto Willow's hand.

"It's true, I don't want to take it slow," Willow admitted.  "Tara and I…we had a wonderful time together and I wouldn't trade the time we had together for anything but… she's dead, and that isn't going to change."

"No, it isn't likely that will change," Buffy agreed sadly.

"So where did we end up?"  
  


"Luna, or at least that's hat the founders named it."

"Not Earth?"  
  
"Nope, though Kathryn's from Indiana.  She and Chakotay are two of the founders of this place."  
  


"Huh, that makes sense."  
  
"Why?"  
  


"Everyone around here seems to look to them for guidance."  
  
"Yeah, they're also the leaders among their own group."

"So, you guys are all right?" Dawn asked as they rejoined the rest of the group.

"Yeah, we're good," Willow said.

"No one else has woken up?"  Buffy asked as she and Willow sat down next to each other.

"Nope, not yet," Xander answered.

++++++++++

It took nearly an hour for everyone to wake up.  They had stuck Angel in the Halliwell sisters' basement since it was the only area that could really properly shield him from the rising sun.

Once everyone was awake, Kathryn explained about Luna.

"My full title is Captain Kathryn Janeway, formerly of the Starship Voyager."

"Starship?" Dawn asked, perking up a little.  "Like in traveling through space?"  
  


"Exactly," Kathryn said with a grin before continuing on with the much-practiced speech.

When she finally finished a half-hour later, she got down to the weird news.

"We found a rather odd anomaly among all he women in your group," she said with a sigh.  "All of you are pregnant."

"What?  How?" Cordelia asked after a moment of stunned silence.

"I don't know," Kathryn admitted.  "It's never happened before."

"Weird," Xander said with a shake of his head.

"We were able to figure out who the fathers are," Kathryn added softly.

"Who are they?" Cordelia asked immediately.

"Xander and Anya, Willow and Wesley, Cordelia and Angel, Fred and Gunn, and Dawn and Xander."

Xander gulped loudly.  "Eep," he said.

"Relax Xander, I'm not going to kill you," Buffy said with a grin.  It's hardly your fault Dawn was impregnated ."

Xander sighed in relief, Buffy had obviously hit on his biggest fear at the moment.

"So what will happen now?" Dawn asked.

"Well, there are several options.  If enough of you decide to stay on the ranch, we'll more than likely build another house.  There are more opportunities for employment elsewhere though, especially in San Francisco.  But I'd like you to all stay here on the ranch for a couple of days,, so you can get used to life here, since as I understand it, you're all used to a pretty hectic life."

"How much has Buffy told you about us?" Wesley asked.

"Actually not a whole lot, mostly that she was a vampire hunter with a large extended family.  She wasn't willing to share any stories other than the one surrounding her 'death' and arrival here.  We've respected that decision and haven't pried.  It just wouldn't be fair."

"And I appreciate that, believe me," Buffy said with a smile and a nod.  "I just wasn't comfortable talking about my 'secret' life.  It just didn't feel right."

"It is unusual though.  We regularly gather around a bonfire, taking turns telling stories about hour lives before coming here," Kathryn added.  "Quinn, Rembrandt, Wade and Maggie are actually writing a book about all their experiences."

Chapter 2

Three months passed by quickly.  Buffy and Willow's relationship had become incredibly deep in only a month and when they told Xander, Dawn and Anya in private they had all been very supportive and understanding.  Dawn had even said that she definitely wouldn't mind having Willow as a sister.

Willow was already starting to show a little, which Buffy could feel when they spooned at night, and was generally immune from mood swings but had horrible morning sickness.  Anya on the other hand was just the opposite with horrible mood swings.  Dawn was lucky in that she only suffered mild morning sickness, so was Cordelia; Fred on the other hand was just plain sick, having nearly miscarried two months in,she was having a horrible time of it, staying in bed most of the time with Gunn at her side.

Wesley had been quick to point out that two conflicting factors probably accounted for this: her former life of slavery and her life of slaying.

One afternoon, Kathryn was walking across the area in front of the houses with Catalina and Rachel when there was a flash of light and a group of about ten people arrived back to back and armed to the teeth.

"Oh for the love of…" Kathryn said under her breath.  "Rachel, go see if Wesley's available to talk to these people, will you?"

"Yeah, no problem," Rachel said before running off.

Kathryn walked calmly up to the group, Catalina slightly behind her.

"Can I help you?" she asked, watching as several people relaxed slightly, lowering their weapons so that they pointed at the ground instead of outward.

"We're looking for several people who disappeared three months ago from San Francisco," a crisp English voice stated.

"Let me uses, you guys are the Watcher's Council," Catalina guessed with a grin and was rewarded by several surprised glares.

"Cat," Kathryn said to get her attention.  'Can you go find Willow and Buffy and then Gunn and Cordelia, and if she's up to it Fred?' she signed.

"Yep," Catalina said before moving off.

"I'm Kathryn Janeway, one of the leaders here."  
  


"I'm Quentin Travers," the man who had spoken before said as he shook Kathryn's hand.  "And as your young friend suggested, we do represent the Watcher's Council."

"You're here to recover Fred?"

"Yes."

++++++++++

Catalina found willow and Buffy quite easily on the hill sunbathing in bikinis, Willow's being red and matching her hair and Buffy's being a dark blue, their towels spread out underneath them.

"Hey, you guys have visitors," she called to get their attention.

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked, not bothering to raise her head, though Willow did.

"I mean your Watcher's Council just arrived," Catalina stated.

"The Watcher's Council?  Here?"

"Fred didn't die, they need her," Buffy pointed out with a sigh.

"What about you?" Willow asked as she sat up.

"I don't know, I'm not much use to them blind," Buffy said with a shrug.

"Iv'e got a few more people to find," Catalina said. "Kathryn's with the, and Rachel's getting Wesley to help deal with guys."

"Good, they can be pushy."

"Come on, let's go see if Giles is with them," Willow said, standing up and helping Buffy to her feet before wrapping the towel around her waist.

They rounded the side of the barn a minute later, hand in hand.

Willow stopped abruptly, taking in the group.

"So?"

"I see him," she said, a grin evident in her voice.

"I've got a sneaky idea if you're willing to give me a hand."

"Always.  He's at the back of the crowd if that helps."

"It does…"

++++++++++

Two minutes later, Willow and Buffy sneaked up on the group, Willow taking Buffy's hands and lifting them to cover Giles's eyes, making him jerk in surprise.

"Guess who," Buffy said, dropping her voice a couple notches.

Giles gently removed her hands and Buffy couldn't keep a grin off her face as Giles turned around and gasped, stopping short.

"Oh, for the Goddess's sake Giles, just hug her," Willow said exasperated.

Giles did just that, throwing his arms around Buffy and enveloping her in a massive bear hug.

"I can't believe this," he whispered.  Everything pointed to you being dead," he added unable to stop the escape of a couple of tears onto Buffy's shoulder.

'She needed this didn't she,' Kathryn signed to Willow.

'They both did it looks like,' Willow agreed.

"Miss Summers, this is an unexpected privilege," Quentin Travers said after Giles and Buffy broke apart a minute later, walking to what was now the front of the crowd, followed closely by Kathryn.

"Mr. Travers, I should have realized you'd be here," Buffy said a small grin gracing her face as she managed to look like she was looking directly at Travers, her hand still ensconced in Giles.  "I'm afraid I have to resign my place as a slayer," she added, causing quite a hubbub among the watchers ranged behind Travers and even Giles put in a mild protest before Willow whispered in his ear.

"This wouldn't have to do with there now being a third slayer, whould there?" Travers asked smugly, obviously sure of being able to deny Buffy for any reason she gave.

"Hardly, I'm not that stupid," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.

"Then why?"

"Well see, since you last saw me, there's been a slight change in my physical condition," Buffy said.

"You aren't pregnant are you?"

The comment caused a snort from behind her, presumably from Willow.

"No, not at all. This is permanent I'm afraid.  When I fell into the electrical field to save the world and so on, the electricity ruined my eyes.  I'm blind.

There was a short silence before several people protested or called for proof.

"All right that's enough," Giles said, quieting the crow quickly.

"I can give you the proof and first hand account you want," Kathryn said.  "When she first arrived here, the first thing we did was take care of the fact that her heart wasn't beating.  After taking care of that small problem,  we realized that her eyes were black pits and our doctor replaced them and then we eventually replaced the nerves behind them.  Unfortunately, that didn't fix the problem," Kathryn explained as she pulled out a tricorder.

"What is that?" Travers asked.

"It's a scanner we use to take vital signs and other information about a person.  Willow, do you mind if I take a quick scan for comparison?"  
  


"Of course not," Willow said as she stepped forward, offering a quick grin to Giles.

Kathryn did a quick scan of Willow's face and showed it to the crowd, explaining what they were looking at.  She then scanned Buffy and did the same.

"Well that's good enough proof for me," Travers said with a sigh.  "I hereby officially retire Buffy Anne Summer's status as a slayer. Congratulations, you've just achieved something no other slayer ever has."

"So that means that you won't bother me again?  Good."  
  
"I think Buffy, Willow, and Giles will want some time alone to get caught up.  I have someone locating Wesley, Cordelia and Gunn so they can talk to you."

"What about Miss Winifred?" Travers asked.

  
"She has been sick recently and is currently bedridden."

"Wait, what would cause a slayer to be bedridden?"  
  


"We think it's a combination of being a slayer and her history as a slave," Wesley said as he walked up.  'Have they been told of the pregnancies yet?' he signed to Kathryn.

'No, otherwise they wouldn't be asking that question,' Willow pointed out.

"If you want to follow me gentlemen, I'll take you to see her," Wesley offered, leaving Buffy, Giles and Willow standing there.

"Why don't we go get something to drink before we start explaining everything," Willow suggested after a second.  "I think we can find some tea to brew."

"That sounds excellent," Giles agreed, still holding Buffy's hand.

As they walked to the house Buffy and Willow shared with the rest of the Scoobie Gang.  They had moved Fred and Gunn to the main house to keep a better eye on her and Angel and Cordelia had decided to move to Memory, where there was more of a night life.

"I noticed several times people using hand signals, but they're nothing I've ever seen, certainly not American Sign Language," Giles asked.  
  


"It's actually something that one of the families that arrived here a couple years ago invented.  They had need of one and just started putting it together, since they didn't have any way to learn an established one."

"And you know this how?  You weren't joking about being blind?"

"For God's sake Giles, no.  Everyone around here uses it and it's hard not to notice long gaps in conversation."

"Everyone uses it?"

"I even know how to sign a few things: my name, Sunnydale, I'm blind, that kind of thing," Buffy said, demonstrating each one.  
  


"Here we are," Willow said as they reached the right house.  "Fred is actually roomed in the main house where they can keep a better eye on her, so it should be quiet," she added.

"What's wrong with her?"

"She's pregnant," Willow admitted with a sigh.  "And having an awful time of it."

"How?"  
  


"Well, that's the odd thing.  When we got here, we were all pregnant," Willow said softly.

"Except for me, I wasn't," Buffy amended.

"Everyone, even Dawn?"  
  
Buffy nodded.

"How odd.  Why is Fred having so much trouble?"

"We're not completely sure, but we think it has something to do with her conflicting background as a slave and her current status as a slayer," Buffy suggested.

"It's possible, certainly," Giles agreed as Willow started a pot of water for tea.  "What happened to you, Buffy?"

"I'm not really sure," Buffy admitted.  "I woke up here here after I was sure I'd be dead.  I was not thrilled to find out that there would be no way to let you guys know I was alive."  
  
"I did die, don't get me wrong, they were just able to revive me through CPR."

"What about the loss of blood?"  
  


"I was unconscious for about a week, or so I've been told, and they had to do a lot of work to get me all the way back up to normal."

"And you trust them?"  
  


"Yes.  They're an incredible group of people.  They've all been through quite a lot before getting here.  One group was fighting a war with only five people."  
  


"Oh my."

"It wasn't a normal war," Willow pointed out.

"Hardly," Buffy agreed.

"Do you want to stay here, or return to Sunnydale?"

"I don't know," Buffy answered honestly.  "I would love to stay here, it's so peaceful, but if everyone ants to go home, I'll go too."

"Well, I'm glad to hear that," Giles said.  "So how is everyone?"

"Other than being pregnant?  Pretty good," Willow said as the teapot whistled and she stood up to tend to it.

"Cordelia and Angel moved to Memory, one of the bigger cities here, but otherwise everyone is living here on the ranch."

"Where are we?"  
  


Buffy gave him a quick rundown of Luna and a few of the other groups that lived there.

"How odd," Giles said afterwards sipping his tea that Willow had brought while Buffy was talking.

"We have a lot of fun, but it's hard to forget what was left behind," Willow admitted.

Just then the front door opened and Dawn came in, Rachel following right behind.

"Giles!" she exclaimed, squeezing him from behind.

"It's good to see you too Dawn," Giles said, patting the arms that were wrapped around his neck.

"I think you better release him Dawn, before you strangle him," Buffy said with a grin.

"Why didn't you guys let me know he was here?  I heard that the Watcher's Council had arrived but no one told me Giles was with them."

"We didn't know until we joined the group, otherwise we would have," Willow said gently.

"How are you doing Dawn?" Giles asked as Dawn joined them at the table and Rachel let herself out.  
  


"Other than being three months pregnant?  All right, I guess.  It's cool that I don't have to attend school all day," she added with a grin.

"They don't have schooling here?" Giles asked, obviously perturbed.

"They do, it's just that it's not quite the same as in Sunnydale. School doesn't run all day for one thing," Dawn amended.  "And since I'm pregnant, I have private lessons here on the ranch instead of going to actual classes."

++++++++++

They talked through the afternoon, with Xander and Anya joining the group.

"We need to discuss where we end up," Giles said during a break in discussion.

"Why now?" Anya asked.

"Because the spell that brought us here has to be reactivated tonight to return to England," Giles explained.  "We have to decide if we're going to stay here or return to Sunnydale.

"I want to stay here," Anya said. "It's nice and quiet, not like the hellmouth."  
  
Dawn, Xander, and Willow murmured their agreement.

"Buffy?" Giles asked.

"I go wherever you guys go," she said.  "I'm not being left behind again.  I agree with you guys though, I'd much rather stay here."

"Will they allow me to stay?" Giles asked.

"I know they will," Buffy said.  "We're not the first group to have a choice, it's just incredibly unusual, and they let the other group stay."

"I'll go tell Kathryn," Xander offered.

"Will they welcome me too," Giles asked as Xander left.

"Absolutely," Willow said.

"What are the others going to do?" Dawn asked.

"I think they're going to return to LA," Anya suggested.  "They have a lot to do there, and Angel still wants to try and gain his soul for good," she pointed out.

"She's right," Dawn agreed with a nod.  "I think that's been foremost on his mind quite a lot since we got here."

"Will they force Fred to return even though she's sick?" Buffy asked.

"I don't know.  It sounds like she's in bad shape from what you've told me, I think they might leave her here."

"Will you stay?" Dawn asked hesitantly.

"Of course," Giles answered gently.  "I think I'm needed here more than on Earth where I don't have much of a social life anyways."

"What about Olivia?" Anya pointed out.

"She and I haven't really been connecting lately," Giles admitted.  "I'd been thinking of calling it off with her anyways."

"I'm sorry to hear that.  I thought you guys made a good pair,' Willow said sincerely.

"Thank you Willow, but I think it's time I move on with my life.  I'll write a letter for the council to mail when they return tonight."

"Will they be annoyed that you're staying?" Dawn asked as Xander reentered, and tookhis place next to Anya again.

"I doubt it.  Travers and I have never gotten along so he'll be glad to hear we're staying, and the others will follow his lead."

"Kathryn said she's glad to hear we're staying, and will gladly welcome Giles into the family."

'Family?"

"We're like one big family here," Buffy said.  "Everyone gets along really well."

"We've all made good friends here," Dawn added.

"I'm glad to hear that.  They really don't mind?"  
  


"I think they have a philosophy of the more the merrier," Buffy said.  At least as far as arrivals go.  They almost have to."

++++++++++

That evening the watcher's council left with little grumbling, Angel, Cordelia and Wesley with them.  Giles sent a letter for Olivia with them along with a request to have all of his books brought to him the next time they had the chance to return, three months from then.

They had left Fred and Gunn with some unhappiness, but with the understanding that a few of them would be back in a year to reclaim their slayer.

Author's note: this isn't the end of the story.  I just decided that it would be easier to split it in half (approximately).  I'm still working on the other half so it might be a little while, but I'll try to get it out asap.  Please read and review, thanks!!


End file.
